Oklahoma City Police Officer Kills Deaf Man Despite Neighbors' Warnings 'He Can't Hear You'
A police officer shot and killed a deaf man in Oklahoma City on Tuesday.
According to eyewitnesses, one of the police officers who were there because of a hit-and-run investigation pulled the trigger as the victim, Madgiel Sanchez, approached them while holding a metal pipe.
The officer ordered Sanchez to drop the metal pipe but eventually shot him despite pleas from the victim's neighbors to not fire the gun because he could not hear them nor understand their orders.
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Sanchez's neighbor, Julio Rayos, and his family witnessed the encounter and approached the policemen to tell them about Sanchez's inability to hear. According to reports, Rayos' 12-year-old daughter even told the officers: "Don't kill him, he's deaf. Don't do it!"
Several other people in the neighborhood joined Rayos' family to yell at the officers to inform them of Sanchez's hearing inability.
Lt. Matthew Lindsey was initially at the scene to respond to a report that a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run incident could be found in an address within Sanchez's neighborhood. It was later found that the subject vehicle had been driven by Sanchez's father.
Lindsey's backup, Sgt. Christopher Barnes, arrived at the scene as Sanchez walked closer to the police officers. Despite the neighbors' warnings, in "less than a minute," witnesses claimed seeing Lindsey fire his Taser at Sanchez while Barnes shot him with his gun.
Rayos told the New York Times that he heard more than six successive gunshots and said: "They seemed like they just came to shoot him. It happened so quickly."
In a following press conference, Oklahoma City Police Department spokesperson Capt. Bo Mathews confirmed that the involved officer fired several shots at Sanchez that immediately killed him at the crime scene.
Rayos then told NewsOK.com that Sanchez, aside from being deaf, cannot communicate verbally at all. "He don't speak, he don't hear, mainly it is hand movements. That's how he communicates. I believe he was frustrated trying to tell them what was going on," the witness said.
Meanwhile, another neighbor named Jolie Guebara told the Associated Press that they always see the victim with a stick in hand as he walks around to avoid stray dogs.
Barnes was placed on administrative leave.
In a statement made via their lawyer, the victim's family has asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation as well as the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct separate investigations on this matter.
