ProfessorMurder

Dallas ticket for not speaking English called a rookie mistake | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News

Officer Gary Bromley issued a citation Oct. 2 to 48-year-old Ernestina
Mondragon after stopping her for making an illegal U-turn in the 500 block of
Easton Road, near East Northwest Highway, according to a copy of the
citation.

"That's a charge that does not exist here in the city of Dallas," said
department spokesman Sgt. Warren Mitchell. "Although we believe it was a
sincere mistake ... there's no excuse for it."

He said that charge and a charge of failure to present a driver's license were
dropped.

Bromley, 33, is a trainee officer in the Northeast Patrol division. His trainer on
the date the ticket was issued was Senior Cpl. Daniel Larkin, 53, said Deputy
Chief Tom Lawrence, Northeast Patrol commander.


Mondragon's daughter Brenda Mondragon said her mother was rushing to take
her younger sister to school that day and did not see the "no U-turn" sign.
Records show Ernestina Mondragon has a driver's license, but her daughter
said she had forgotten it. She said her mother, a native Spanish speaker, speaks limited English.


"She was very mad; she was very upset," Mondragon said of her mother's
reaction. "We ended up taking her to the [emergency room] because she was
nervous; she was just stressing over the ticket."


Dallas cop tickets mom for not speaking English | Crime | WFAA.com

DALLAS — A Dallas police officer, just out of the academy and still under

SUPERVISED TRAINING, ticketed a woman recently for leaving her drivers license
at home, making an illegal U-turn, and being a "non-English speaking driver."
"At first I thought it was a joke," said Brenda Mondragon about the ticket
issued to her mother, Ernestina. "We moved from California two years ago, so
I thought maybe it's a law here."

Ernestina Mondragon got the ticket as she took her youngest daughter
Vanessa to elementary school on October 2

"She was upset and worried," Vanessa, 11, remembered about the traffic stop.

Officer Gary Bromley issued three citations to Mondragon, the first for failing
to carry her drivers license. She said she left it at home darting out the door.

Bromley also cited her for making an illegal U-turn in the 500 block of Easton in Northeast Dallas.

Finally, the rookie policeman ticketed her for being a "non-English speaking driver."

The City of Dallas has no such law on its books

Mitchell said the department believes the rookie policeman was
likely confused. There is a federal law under 49 CFR 391.11 which states
drivers must speak English to operate a commercial vehicle, b ut no such law
exists for a private vehicle.

Sgt. Mitchell said that specific federal law was never adopted by either Dallas or Texas.

__________________
"No contaban con mi astucia!"

~1~

Shit man, the cop made a mistake!!



LETS HANG HIM!!!!





It's a mistake, he cited her for a law that is on the books, but doesn't apply to this situation.

Come on man, I'm sure you forgot to put cheese on some guys burger, no reason to turn it into a news story.

But since we have, Mrs. Mondragon gets away with violating two other laws that do apply to all drivers in the state, you and I would likely have been fined and points on our license.

__________________

ProfessorMurder

There is documented proof of police abuse of power.

There is a law, but it doesn't apply to Texas; ever.

But there is a History at the Dallas Police of Racial Discirmination.

Dallas Police Officer: ” …You Dont Speak English… You Go To Jail!”|THE CUBAN REVOLUTION


Just when I was starting to feel some sympathy for Robert Powell, the flood
gates open. I have previously written about this October 21, 2006 entry on
his Xanga Blog:

“You drink, You drive, You rear end another car, You don’t speak english, You
smell like alcohol, You cant stand up straight, You cant walk a straight line,
You go to jail!!!”

powellrob2002's Xanga Site

While most of these statements when taken together seem
reasonable statements of law enforcement procedures, taken as a whole with
the Ryan Moats incident, and now the Maritza Thomas incident, the “You
don’t speak English” go to jail!!! mandate from officer Powell should cause
concern as to his ability to function effectively as a Dallas Police officer.

Lapses of judgment even terrible ones happen to the best of people.
Hopefully they can be learned from and never repeated. Immaturity of action
can change with teaching, supervision and experience. Ethnic and racial
intolerance is learned however. It tends to stick around and often manifests
itself under stress. A statement such as he made in a city in which has a
relatively large contingent of non-English speaking Hispanic residents** has
to be looked at as more than “youthful bad taste”.

Maritza Thomas is Hispanic. She is the wife of NFL linebacker Zach Thomas.
She has come forward to allege mistreatment at the hands of officer Powell.


On July 27, 2008, Maritza Thomas was pulled over by Powell for an illegal U-
turn. She was issued five tickets by Powell. Thomas was handcuffed, placed
in the back of a police cruiser, spent about three hours in the Dallas County
Jail and was threatened with the possibility of spending the night behind
bars. Four of the five charges were subsequently dropped. The charges
were failure to show proof of insurance, running a red light, having an
improper address on a driver’s license and not having a registration sticker on
the windshield. She accepted deferred adjudication for the illegal U-turn
charge. Her attorney, Brody Shanklin stated:

“Unless extraordinary circumstances exist, no person should be arrested for a
Class C citation. In this case, it was an example of Officer Powell being
overzealous and exerting his authority in a manner that he never should have.”


Her mother, Teresa Lozano, speaks little English, was forced to ride with the
tow truck when the car was impounded. She later posted bail for her daughter’s release.


“My mom was begging for him to let her go to the apartment that was five
minutes away to get the paperwork,” Maritza Thomas said. “He unbuckled his
holster, and she got scared.”

Officers do have the authority to make an arrest for Class C misdemeanor
tickets. Many officer have come to the defense of officer Powell in the
Thomas case.

“If there are so many violations that it could be viewed that it’s an egregious
situation, that person can be arrested,” said Assistant Chief Floyd Simpson,
who oversees the department’s seven patrol divisions”

“It’s a judgment thing on the cops at that moment,” Simpson said. “The core
of what we do is just discretion, and it needs

While no dashcam is available there , there is no evidence that Mrs. Thomas
or her mother exhibited any provocation or disrespect unless being anxious
and emotional at the prospect of going to jail is in itself disrespectful. Mrs.
Thomas has NOT alleged that race played any part in her arrest.

Is this incident in itself definitive as to Mr. Powell’s attitudes towards
minorities? Of course not. Should this incident combined with the Moats
incident and his blog postings be cause for concern as to his beliefs in this
area warranting further investigation before a decision is made as to his
fitness to continue as a Dallas Police officer? It would be irresponsible on the
part of the Dallas Police Department not to look into it.

__________________
"No contaban con mi astucia!"

TX-NC

i know for a fact that our city and state troopers ticket every violation they can b/c they usually get reduced to one charge. I've seen as many as 10 written violations. I've seen a city cop write vio for not having the insurance card signed.

you can even research that on the trial docket in our county on how many violations are written and it all colors and genders.

I have seen discrimination by the judges....esp if they are undocumented aliens. i can't say this cat was an undocumented worker b/c he wasn't even working!!! 19 yrs old, involved w/ a gang, spray painted a sonic drive in. he cleaned off the paint, no damages, the DA asked for it to be dropped. the judge dropped the book on him!! told his rep to tell him that every time he got in trouble in NC...the judge was going to jail him. HAIL TO THE JUDGE!!!

if you're not here legal...you have no rights. he probably would have gotten a firing squad in MX. Maybe we should bring that back.

TX-NC

“My mom was begging for him to let her go to the apartment that was five
minutes away to get the paperwork,” Maritza Thomas said. “He unbuckled his
holster, and she got scared.”

a person never leaves the scene. Tell it to the judge when you go to court.

My Uncle was a deputy in Uvalde...he was pistol whipped to death by 3 wets. he should have had his weapon drawn when he approached the car and maybe his three kids would have a Father. he was over 6 foot and pummeled to death. couldn't even tell who he was. he was a gentle giant.

~1~

I feel for you man, thats a fucked situation for sure.

There will be some assholes here who will tell you your uncle got what he deserved and shit like that but they have had very little contact with LEO and probably always on the bad side so they speak out their ass because they're ignorant. Don't let them get to you.

No one deserves to die because they chose a career of public service.


No one.

__________________

ProfessorMurder

First, She was not a "wet", she is an American Citizen, thank you.


She has rights.


Second, the Dallas Police Cheif has apologized to the family.


And subsequently uncovered 38 more "Non-English Speaking Driver" tickets.

Top cop apologizes for 'no-English' ticket | Texas Cable News | TXCN.com | News for Texas | Local News: TV


DALLAS — Dallas police Chief David Kunkle issued a public apology Friday
after learning that a rookie officer issued a ticket to a motorist because she
couldn't speak English.

"We don't have abilities to determine proficiency in any language, and we
shouldn't be doing it in the first place," Kunkle said. "I apologize to the
Spanish-speaking Hispanic community."

After a review of the records, Kunkle said about a half-dozen officers had
issued a total of 38 similar citations. He said police would recommend to the
courts that any pending cases be dismissed.
Any citations that were paid, we're going to reimburse the people who paid
the citation,"
" Kunkle added.

Bromley and his supervisors met Friday morning with police superiors. The
department has launched an internal affairs investigation.

"We're looking at dereliction of duty for the officers who wrote the citation,
and also dereliction of duty for the sergeants who reviewed each of these
citations and allowed them to go through our system," Kunkle said.

The chief met with the Mondragon family before speaking with reporters.

__________________
"No contaban con mi astucia!"

osirus2020

Not to fucking mention you and I also speak English.

__________________



ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

ProfessorMurder

Dallas Police Improperly Cite Drivers for Not Speaking English - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

At least six officers wrote the citations,

including one who wrote five of them, Kunkle said at a news conference.

The officers and their commanders are under investigation,

and Dallas police also plan to look beyond the last three years to see if other citations turn up, Kunkle said.



"I felt humiliated. Sad," she said. "I wanted to cry but I couldn't. The anger wouldn't let me."

During the exchange between her and the officer, Mondragon said she used the limited English words and phrases she knows.

"He asked me if I spoke English. I said I speak a little and understand it," she said.

Mondragon said court staffers seemed puzzled by the charge. The
court ultimately dismissed the "non-English" ticket and driver's license citation
after Mondragon presented her license.

Kunkle said the outcome of the other 37 no-English citations is unclear.

Mondragon was surprised to hear others had been cited and said

she's glad she said something so it can stop.

She and her family are considering a lawsuit.





She's like Rosa Parks and she's got the Klingons payin for THanksgiving dinner and Christmas Party, and New Years, and all of Black History Month.


Dallas Police celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
by paying tickets given out to Hispanic People!

__________________
"No contaban con mi astucia!"