Deaf Man Gets $75K Settlement Over Denial of Interpreter
After Latell Chaney crashed into a car driven by the mother of his two sons, he asked for a sign-language interpreter.
But, apparently believing Chaney could communicate adequately through handwritten notes, police in Martin County interrogated him without one. They they charged him with felony criminal assault and criminal damage concerning what Chaney says was an accident, reports the Star Tribune. After he was taken to jail in Nobles County, the Minnesota man was again denied an interpreter.
Now, the two counties have agreed to pay the 34-year-old a $75,000 settlement and will change their policies concerning such situations, according to the newspaper.
Chaney was represented by attorney Eric Hageman of Minneapolis. The article doesn’t say if or how the criminal case against him was resolved.
