A deaf and speech-impaired woman who sued the NYPD for allegedly denying her a sign-language interpreter while she was jailed overnight has won a $100,000 settlement from the city, the Daily News has learned.
Opal Gordon was arrested on Sept. 21, 2015 while leaving Manhattan Family Court. Cops accused her of violating an order of protection. Gordon, now 54, was at court for a custody proceeding involving her daughter.
The Manhattan resident, who describes herself as “profoundly deaf and speech-impaired,” claimed cops didn’t explain why they collared her — and didn’t provide a sign-language interpreter.
Gordon, who filed a lawsuit against the city on Dec. 11, 2015 over her arrest, also alleged the officers did not read her Miranda rights. After police brought Gordon to the 45th Precinct stationhouse in the Bronx, they kept her there for two hours before taking her to a holding cell in Bronx Central Booking.
Gordon told The News during an exclusive interview in December 2015 she informed both the precinct’s commanding officer and jail staff that she is deaf. But they didn’t respond to her requests for an interpreter and only provided one after she had already spent some 21 hours in custody.
The status of Gordon’s criminal case was not immediately available. Her lawyers declined to comment.
Gordon’s $100,000 settlement, filed on Jan. 17, comes several weeks after the city paid another deaf woman $80,000 to settle her civil rights lawsuit against the city.
That woman, 52-year-old Tanya Ingram, claimed cops wrongly arrested her following a car accident in East Harlem — then failed to provide a sign-language interpreter.
And in October and November 2015, the city awarded settlements of $750,000 and $100,000, respectively, to two deaf people who claimed the NYPD denied them interpreters in separate incidents.
The NYPD inked a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2009 to improve its treatment of deaf people — including special training for officers and providing interpreters 24 hours per day. But some members of the deaf community and their advocates maintain the department has failed to uphold the agreement.
The NYPD did not comment on Gordon’s lawsuit. But it said in a statement that officers trying to communicate with deaf people can use an interpreter or tools including visual aids. The NYPD added it is trying to increase the number of sign-language interpreters.
“Settling this case was in the best interest of the City,” said a Law Department spokesman.
