USA TODAY

DALLAS, TX

Dallas police say they will dismiss 39 cases from as far back as three years in which police officers ticketed motorists for driving without being able to speak English, The Dallas Morning News reports.

The ticketing procedure came to light after 48-year-old Ernestina Mondragon came forward to complain after being stopped for making an illegal U-turn Oct. 2.

In addition to the moving (and speaking) violations, Mondragon, who has been a legal U.S. resident since 1980, got a ticket for not having a valid driver's license.

Her daughter, Brenda, says that her mother in fact has a valid license, but had left it at home in a rush to get a second daughter, 11 year-old Vanessa, to school.

She says the officer did not speak Spanish and Vanessa was not asked to translate, the newspaper reports.

Dallas police say the linguistic charge is on a menu of the police department's in-house computers, but applies only to commercial operators like bus, truck and limo drivers, the newspaper says.

This weekend, Dallas City Council member Steve Salazar thanked the Mondragon family for raising the issue and also apologized for the incident.

"Dallas is a diverse city with many languages," Salazar said. "This was a charge that should not have been in the system."

Update at 7:50 a.m. ET: The Dallas News says that records show that at least 20 Dallas police officers from five patrol divisions were involved in wrongly citing motorists for not speaking English since 2007.

The paper says almost all of the 38 people cited were Hispanic. The News says the officers involved ranged from rookie to a 13-year veteran. 

The newspaper quotes Senior Cpl. Glenn White, president of the Dallas Police Association, as saying the response from the public and the department is overblown.

"Now there is going to be a big internal affairs investigation into what?" he said, according to the newspaper."They've corrected the problem; they're going to make it go away or refund the money. It's done." 

Dateline: Dallas, TX

 WFAA

Dallas police Chief David Kunkle issued a public apology Friday after learning that a rookie officer issued a ticket to a motorist because she couldn't speak English.

"We don't have abilities to determine proficiency in any language, and we shouldn't be doing it in the first place," Kunkle said. "I apologize to the Spanish-speaking Hispanic community."

After a review of the records, Kunkle said about a half-dozen officers had issued a total of 38 similar citations. He said police would recommend to the courts that any pending cases be dismissed.

"Any citations that were paid, we're going to reimburse the people who paid the citation," Kunkle added.

The Dallas Police Department said it was embarrassed by what it calls a mistake by rookie Officer Gary Bromley after he stopped Ernestina Mondragon for making an illegal U-turn.

In addition for being cited for the U-turn violation, Mondragon received another ticket for being a "non-English speaking driver."

Bromley and his supervisors met Friday morning with police superiors. The department has launched an internal affairs investigation.

"We're looking at dereliction of duty for the officers who wrote the citation, and also dereliction of duty for the sergeants who reviewed each of these citations and allowed them to go through our system," Kunkle said.

The chief met with the Mondragon family before speaking with reporters.

Dallas City Council member Delia Jasso is trying to assure the public that the officer made a mistake.

"What I want people to know is that we do not give tickets for speaking Spanish, especially when you're driving a car," Jasso said.

The department has recently hired more than 400 new officers. Jasso questioned whether police need to take a closer look at the qualifications of applicants.

 Dallas Morning News

Dallas police chief: Dozens of tickets issued for not speaking English

 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.

"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.

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."

Comments (17)

ID2422: ... Failure to produce a license and unable to speak English... I'm sure he was hear legally. And before someone starts the racist crap, I'm originally from northern Maine and occasionally we get a Canadian who speaks French who has settled in "The County". 1 October 23, 2009 Ofc52sierra: ... Is it a charge or is it a notation he made on the ticket for when he goes to court? Or does TX vehicle law require drivers understand enough English to follow traffic laws and signs? 2 October 23, 2009 bilsd1818: ... maybe it was a notation to the court so they knew a interpreter would be needed. 3 October 24, 2009 hunter4737: ... It looks like a notation to explain why the ticket has the violators nmae printed rather than signed and the violation is for diregarding traffic control device. 4 October 24, 2009 Txscop: ... Ofc52sierra: ...Or does TX vehicle law require drivers understand enough English to follow traffic laws and signs? Same as where you work, commercial DL holders must be proficient in English. That's a Fed motor carrier regulation. The issue here is that she wasn't subject to this because she only held a standard operator's license. This incident is being painted by the media as some sort of ignorant racist move on the cop's part, but is actually just a case of poorly trained rookies who thought they knew the law...and FTO's not doing their jobs. 5 October 24, 2009 Jeff8643: Txscop is right on the money... If they drill down to the bottom of this, you are likely going to find a few FTO's who are not doing their jobs! 6 October 24, 2009 Hppycmpr35: Agree with Hunter I often included notes on the citations, but generally on the back of my records copy to be used later in court, It would usually be something to jar my memory about the violator and the violation. Sometimes you don't end up in court until a year later if they FTA and it is a bit hard to remember rather than bluff it based on the citation only. Having "No English" would help explain that the officer could not fully communicate the violation to the offender and that they probably did not know whay they were getting the ticket. I hope the Chief apologizes as I really doubt there was a "fine" on the books anywhere that would have been assessed. 7 October 24, 2009 LawMan34: ... I wish their were a state law that all drivers must speak and comprehend basic English like under the Federal Motor Carrier statute. There is nothing more frustrating when you try to do your job and all you hear is "you speaka Spanish". I am in now way prejudice or racist, however I strongly beleieve if drive in the U.S. that you speak English 8 October 24, 2009 k9style: ... I don't understand, how do you cite for a non-existent law?? Unless he really meant to just make a notation that the driver was non-english speaking, I don't see the issue. But I agree with LawMan, that it is time to pass state laws that require the ability to read and understand english to operate a vehicle, since all signs are in English! 9 October 25, 2009 Txscop: ... k9style: ... I don't understand, how do you cite for a non-existent law?? It's not a nonexistent law. It's a Federal Motor Carrier regulation and is enforced by many agencies, both local and state. Dallas PD doesn't enforce it, but several other agencies in their area do. I read a follow-up to this DPD story that stated over 25,000 cites for 'Non-English Speaking Driver' were written last year. Since this reg addresses CDL holders only, ask one of your state troopers about this. They undoubtedly enforce it. 10 October 25, 2009 LawMan34: ... Geez...Reading my last post one would think I can't write in proper English... Anyway, I have the same question as to how they wrote the charge on the ticket. Where I work we have a state code that adopts the federal regs but you have to reference the federal regulation or the courts kick it back. What code section did they mark on the ticket? Just wondering... 11 October 25, 2009 smtowncop: ... My question is how did they get a license if they don't speak English? If you can't read the driver's test you certainly can't pass it. And to read a driver's test you would have to comprehend English. 12 October 25, 2009 pd2rgr: ... NC has a soansih version of the drivers test. Of course, the traffic signs are english. One day they'll say that we will have to post signs in english and spanish..wouldn' the surprised. 13 October 25, 2009 coprock12: ... In washington state, we give the test in every language EXCEPT English!!! ( only kidding about the English) But we are giving the test in several other languages. 14 October 26, 2009 sb73: smtowncop There are plenty of places in the US were English is not the primary language, or it is not spoken at all. 15 October 26, 2009 Bull: ... I did not read the article. But from the picture it looks like he made a note. Why he made the note, I can think of a few reasons. But the ticket was for "disregard a traffic control device". Not for not speaking english. What a knee jerk reaction. 16 October 26, 2009 combatcop: ... I can see the charge as being BS. But, she made an illegal U-turn, and failed to produce a valid license. Except for the "Non-English Speaking" charge, I don't see why the rest of the ticket should be dropped. The lady in the article has been a legal resident since 1980 and has not learned any english? That sounds suspect to me. 17 October 29, 2009

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