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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Deaf-Mute Family Loses Discrimination Claim

CINCINNATI (CN) - A deaf-mute family did not suffer discrimination after two of its members were arrested in a domestic dispute, the 6th Circuit ruled.

A police officer arrived to see Blake Tucker strike a neighbor and push his mother-in-law. Blake also hit the officer as he was being arrested. Odis Tucker was also arrested when he came to his nephew's aid.

Judge Van Tatenhove ruled that Vonnie Tucker, Blake's mother, could not claim disability discrimination because she voluntarily served as a sign language interpreter at her family's hearing.

"If she was uncomfortable in such a role, she didn't have to perform in it," the judge wrote.

Also, police were not advised of the Tuckers' disabilities, so they had no obligation to have a sign-language interpreter at the scene of the arrest.

"The Tuckers were arrested because they assaulted police officers, individual citizens, or attempted to interfere with an arrest," the judge wrote, "not because they were disabled."

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