Dozens of tickets issued for not speaking English

[kaydee457 13]

By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News

sgoldstein@dallasnews.com

Editor's note: Comments have been disabled on this story.

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle said this afternoon that his officers have written at least 39 citations to people over the past three years for not speaking English.

Apologizing publicly to the city's Spanish-speaking community, the chief said all officers and supervisors involved will be investigated for dereliction of duty. All pending citations will be dismissed, and people who paid fines will be reimbursed.

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"I was stunned that this would happen," Kunkle said at a news conference.

The police chief added: "In my world, you would never tell someone not to speak Spanish."

The bogus citations – there is no law requiring Dallas residents to speak English – came to light after it was revealed that a rookie officer, Gary Bromley, had issued a citation on Oct. 2 to Ernestina Mondragon for being a non-English-speaking driver.

Bromley had stopped the 48-year-old woman for making an improper U-turn in the 500 block of Easton Road, near East Northwest Highway, according to the citation.

Police officials at first dismissed Bromley's action as the foolish error of an inexperienced cop.

"That's a charge that does not exist here in the city of Dallas," said Sgt. Warren Mitchell, a department spokesman.

"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.

Also Online Crime blog: Read the citation

In all, about Dallas police write about 400,000 citations a year, department officials said.

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.

Under the Dallas City Code, taxi drivers must be able to communicate in English. Mitchell said there is also a federal statute that says commercial drivers must speak English, but it would not have applied in this case.

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."

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[HAL 9000 96]

Thanks for the point, kaydee.

there is no law requiring Dallas residents to speak English

hence, ticketing people for violating a law that doesn't exist is also illegal.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Thanks for the point, kaydee.

there is no law requiring Dallas residents to speak English

hence, ticketing people for violating a law that doesn't exist is also illegal.

you jus tHAD to bring logic into the thread. damn you.

[HAL 9000 96]

Thanks for the point, kaydee.

there is no law requiring Dallas residents to speak English

hence, ticketing people for violating a law that doesn't exist is also illegal.

you jus tHAD to bring logic into the thread. damn you.

*HAL 9000 speeds away from Len's shaking angry fist.*

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Thanks for the point, kaydee.

there is no law requiring Dallas residents to speak English

hence, ticketing people for violating a law that doesn't exist is also illegal.

you jus tHAD to bring logic into the thread. damn you.

*HAL 9000 speeds away from Len's shaking angry fist.*

It was more a finger flipping, but ok

[Susita 175]

Goddammit, I gotta stop speaking pig latin or they gonna git me!

itshay!

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Goddammit, I gotta stop speaking pig latin or they gonna git me!

itshay!

like Nessa says: callate cabrona

[pedroh 21]

so... are we supposed to be outraged because there should be a ticket for not speaking english?

[almaty 19]

well, there goes my visit there for the qu'ram readings

[Chica Yeyé 41]

so... are we supposed to be outraged because there should be a ticket for not speaking english?

Let's try....

:girlwerewolf2xn:

boring. Not worth it. Now, a chingar a su madre todo el mundo

[Susita 175]

Maybe they should start giving tickets to tourists too because most of them don't speak English.

[almaty 19]

i worked with harris county for 9 years..hell, they don't speak english..a form of southerize

[kaydee457 13]

Thanks for the point, kaydee.

there is no law requiring Dallas residents to speak English

hence, ticketing people for violating a law that doesn't exist is also illegal.

No point other than to point out your bad punctuation....because I know you'd want to know.

[Niels Bohr 72]

Can we issue tickets for being a moron?

[natty bumppo 297]

i worked with harris county for 9 years..hell, they don't speak english..a form of southerize

harris county isn't dallas ....

in harris county it's spanish .... not southerenize ....