Last night I got a text from my sister-in-law that read:
"I think we saved a guy from going to jail. The cops were making him read a paper that said I understand....And he clearly did not understand what they were telling him."
I called her this morning and she explained the following.
She and my brother had walked to a local store to buy some stuff they needed. On the way back they saw 6 cops with a man (who happened to be Latino). The man was on a bicycle and had what looked like a grocery bag. They were asking him to read something on a card that started with "I understand...". It was obvious that the guy had no idea was going on or what he was reading, he was butchering every word. So my sister-in-law asked the officers if she could translate for them. They said no, they were ok. So my sister-in-law and my brother stayed and watched them. After a while they told the guy to just go, and he left.
Now, I may be a little slow but you would think that if they had a reason to stop him, while on his bicycle mind you, they wouldn't have let him go. I mean if someone reported he had shoplifted or was trying to get into parked cars or was vandalizing, they wouldn't have let him go. This leads me to think that they probably had no real reason to stop him and were trying to force him to say he understood what was going on and then were going to arrest him. They have Latino cops that speak Spanish, one couldn't be called in to translate? I mean they had 6 cops there already what's one more??
To me it seemed like they stopped him because they suspected he was undocumented. It is very disappointing to see this happen. Who do you report that to? Is the chief telling them to do such a thing? How many people has this been done to already? If my sister-in-law and brother were not there watching them, what would have happened to that guy? The guy, for all I know, was probably a U.S. Resident, but maybe he wasn't. Why are cops telling people to read off a card like that?
"I think we saved a guy from going to jail. The cops were making him read a paper that said I understand....And he clearly did not understand what they were telling him."
I called her this morning and she explained the following.
She and my brother had walked to a local store to buy some stuff they needed. On the way back they saw 6 cops with a man (who happened to be Latino). The man was on a bicycle and had what looked like a grocery bag. They were asking him to read something on a card that started with "I understand...". It was obvious that the guy had no idea was going on or what he was reading, he was butchering every word. So my sister-in-law asked the officers if she could translate for them. They said no, they were ok. So my sister-in-law and my brother stayed and watched them. After a while they told the guy to just go, and he left.
Now, I may be a little slow but you would think that if they had a reason to stop him, while on his bicycle mind you, they wouldn't have let him go. I mean if someone reported he had shoplifted or was trying to get into parked cars or was vandalizing, they wouldn't have let him go. This leads me to think that they probably had no real reason to stop him and were trying to force him to say he understood what was going on and then were going to arrest him. They have Latino cops that speak Spanish, one couldn't be called in to translate? I mean they had 6 cops there already what's one more??
To me it seemed like they stopped him because they suspected he was undocumented. It is very disappointing to see this happen. Who do you report that to? Is the chief telling them to do such a thing? How many people has this been done to already? If my sister-in-law and brother were not there watching them, what would have happened to that guy? The guy, for all I know, was probably a U.S. Resident, but maybe he wasn't. Why are cops telling people to read off a card like that?
So they can technically say the man said he understood his rights and willingly forfeited them. Good for your brother and sister-in-law recognizing a bad situation and stepping in.
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