Deaf driver’s shooting death by North Carolina trooper under investigation

Friends and family of Daniel Harris gather around a heart drawn onto Seven Oaks Drive during a candlelight vigil to remember Harris, a deaf motorist who was shot and killed by a state trooper, Monday, Aug. 22, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. Harris, a deaf man who was shot and killed by a North Carolina state trooper after he didn’t stop for the officer’s blue lights was unarmed and likely did not understand the officer’s commands, the slain man’s family says. (David T. Foster III/The Charlotte Observer via AP) Friends and family of Daniel Harris gather around a heart drawn onto Seven Oaks Drive during a candlelight vigil to remember Harris, a deaf motorist who was shot and killed by a state trooper, Monday, Aug. 22, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. Harris, a deaf man who was shot and killed by a North Carolina state trooper after he didn’t stop for the officer’s blue lights was unarmed and likely did not understand the officer’s commands, the slain man’s family says. (David T. Foster III/The Charlotte Observer via AP)

By Associated Press August 24, 2016 5 min read

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The North Carolina Highway Patrol is urging people to not jump to conclusions as state agents investigate how a deaf driver with a history of minor offenses ended up dead after leading a trooper on a 10-mile chase.

The family of Daniel Kevin Harris said he was unarmed and suggested the sequence of events last week was a tragic misunderstanding – the type the state’s training manual warns troopers to avoid when dealing with the hearing impaired.

The investigation into the shooting is ongoing, Secretary Frank Perry of the state Department of Public Safety said in a news release.

“Let us all refrain from making assumptions or drawing conclusions prior to the internal and independent reviews” by the patrol, the State Bureau of Investigation and the district attorney, said Perry, whose agency oversees the Highway Patrol.

Authorities haven’t said why Trooper Jermaine Saunders fired, and a review of public records shows a few traffic charges against Harris from other states, including damaging his employer’s vehicle with his own car after he was fired last year, according to a Denver police report.