APD Detective Disputes ‘Chronicle’ Story
BY JORDAN SMITH AND MICHAEL KING
According to Austin Police Department Detective Daniel Arizpe, the
Chronicle’s description of the June 30, 2000, incident at the Catfish
Parlour – in our Dec. 3 story “Tone Deaf,” about communication problems
between APD and deaf residents – was just plain wrong. “I did absolutely
nothing wrong,” he told us last week during a meeting at APD headquarters.
The brief passage in the story that concerns Arizpe’s actions that day reads
as follows: “When APD Officer Daniel Arizpe arrived, he did not provide an
interpreter even after Joan repeatedly asked for one; instead, Arizpe used
only his voice to communicate that he intended to arrest Richard. Richard
didn’t know what was happening – or even that Arizpe was a cop – and when
Arizpe tried to arrest him, he bit the officer’s arm.” (Arizpe is not
otherwise mentioned.)
Shortly after the story ran, we got a call from APD’s public information
office telling us that Arizpe felt he was incorrectly and unfairly portrayed
and wanted a meeting with us.
At that Dec. 16 meeting, Arizpe said that we erred in reporting that he
failed to call for an interpreter to communicate with Richard Bell (who is
deaf and blind) and his wife, Joan (who is deaf), after the couple allegedly
got into an altercation with the restaurant manager, an incident that
started after the couple had requested a braille menu. Arizpe said that he
did in fact call for an interpreter – three times, he says – before
arresting Richard and taking him to jail. Arizpe doesn’t recall how long he
waited for an interpreter to arrive at the scene but estimates it was about
30 minutes. Arizpe said he also tried communicating with Richard by writing
notes; he said Richard had already been trying to communicate via writing
and that he believed Richard could read the notes that he wrote but refused
to do so. Further, Arizpe said that an interpreter did take over once the
couple was at the jail.
Arizpe said that no charges were filed because he was “trying to be nice,”
even though Richard had bitten him on the arm. The manager at the Catfish
Parlour, who told Arizpe that Richard had struck him across the head with
the white cane he uses as a mobility tool, apparently did not pursue assault
charges either. (In fact, no charges of any kind were ever filed.)
Our summary of the Catfish Parlour episode was based on the court documents
of record concerning the federal civil rights lawsuit that was filed on
behalf of the Bells, under the terms of the Americans With Disability Act,
by the Texas Civil Rights Project. As we reported, the lawsuit resulted in a
settlement, under which the city agreed to ensure that every APD officer
receive at least four hours of training on dealing with individuals with
disabilities, including the deaf and blind.
Source:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=1129006