Dallas Police, Including Officer Gary Bromley, Ticketed 39 Drivers for Not Speaking English

Texas-style justice rears its head once more. Police Chief David Kunkle said Dallas police, including rookie officer Gary Bromley, wrongly ticketed at least 39 drivers for not speaking English over the last three years. The pending cases will be dismissed and those who paid the $204 fines will be reimbursed, he said. The citations were reportedly issued in several different patrol divisions by at least six different officers. Kunkle said one of those officers was responsible for five of the citations. These officers should be suspended immediately, since their names are on these tickets. 

Thankfully, one victim had the gumption to challenge the citation and that's what led to the discovery of all the others. According to Dallas News, Ernestina Mondragon was stopped on October 2nd for making an illegal U-turn in the White Rock area. Rookie Officer Gary Bromley cited her for three violations: disregarding a traffic control device, failure to present a driver's license and "non-English speaking driver." Beyond the legal ramifications, this is blatantly discriminatory against Latinos. The excuse being used by some officials is that the "the officer was confused by a pull-down menu on his in-car computer that listed the charge as an option."

But why would Bromley, a trainee officer in the northeast patrol division, even select that law which the computer referred since it is a federal statute regarding commercial drivers that Kunkle said his department does not enforce? Bromley and his training officer Senior Cpl Daniel Larkin should both be suspended, since Larkin was aware of the Mondragon citation. Further, the department stipulates that a sergeant must sign off on all citations, therefore, the supervisor who signed off on the Mondragon ticket, St. David Burroughs, 50, should be suspended immediately. Isn't it conventional wisdom that a trainer bears a great deal of responsibility in what a trainee does?

Dallas police said they will drop all charges against Mondragon, who speaks limited English and does have a Texas driver's license. Police officials declined to release the names of the officers and supervisors involved in the other cases, but Kunkle said he expected the investigation to last at least a few weeks and could reach back several years. Funny, the police is supposed to uphold the law, but a few rogue cops broke the law and this investigation could go back years, as the chief rightly said. Here's the crazy part, when you pay your fines, doesn't it list the offense? So, why didn't anyone notice this before?

The citations reportedly amount to a small percentage of the roughly 400,000 tickets issued by Dallas police each year, but it is very troubling nonetheless and the total is large enough to have serious legal ramifications. This seems like a trend to me and a policy. The problem for me is that this injustice is being perpetrated against a fairly voiceless and helpless section of the population. There are police officers on the streets who actually believe that it is un-American and possibly criminal not to speak English. This is a blow to the department's relationship with the Hispanic community and it may even lead to lawsuits in the near future.