Vegas Cops Make Children of Deaf Woman Interpret During Detainment

Publish date: 2024-05-24

MISHANDLING THE SITUATION

Two Vegas-area police officers used a deaf woman's own children to help interpret while detaining their mother ... which is now being called a blatant violation of the ADA.

The lady's name is Andrea Hollingsworth, and she recorded the encounter last month after running into a North Las Vegas PD cop ... who was responding to a call alleging Hollingsworth was stalking/harassing someone outside of their home.

Hollingsworth makes clear during the incident that she's deaf and can't hear the officer as he tried figuring out what was going on ... but lost his patience constantly. Another officer arrives on the scene not too long after and also expresses frustration with Hollingsworth.

Eventually, the officers get one of her kids -- who was riding with her when they got approached -- to try and be in the intermediary ... this as they put Hollingsworth in cuffs and sat her down on the curb. It's a distressing situation -- you can hear the children crying and Hollingsworth desperately tries to both reassure them and talk to the cops at the same time.

Once everything is calm (relatively speaking), the officers get some context from what sounds like one of Hollingsworth's daughters ... who says they're simply trying to get some money back from a friend who'd recently moved out of an apartment they were sharing.

The officer chastises the mom to the kid ... explaining police procedure and why it's important for people to cooperate, which he says Hollingsworth was not doing, making it all the more difficult to get to the bottom of what had happened. In the end, no charges were filed.

Now, more than a month later ... Nevada's ACLU chapter, as well as some deaf orgs, are crying foul over Hollingsworth's treatment, saying the cops violated the Americans with Disabilities Act -- not to mention police protocol, which says ASL interpreters must be dispatched in these types of run-ins, as they're on call and available 24/7.

It doesn't appear the officers were reprimanded -- but it seems Hollingsworth might be ramping up for legal action, as a GoFundMe for legal fees has been started on her behalf.