Imagine this: You are driving when you see a man pulled over by the side of the road. He steps out of his car, confused by flashing lights. He gestures to communicate and tries to shout something. Within seconds, police officers grab him, throw him to the ground, and use a Taser on him. Then you realize the driver is deaf and has no idea what’s happening.

This is what Brady Mistic says happened in Idaho Springs, Colorado, in 2019. Mistic ran a stop sign and pulled into a laundromat parking lot. Unable to hear the officers’ commands or see clearly due to police lights, he walked toward the building. That’s when Officers Nicholas Hanning and Ellie Summers decided Mistic was a threat.

Bodycam footage recorded Officer Hanning shouting, “You’re gonna come up on us like that? Excuse me? Who do you think you are?”

The officers grabbed Mistic, forced him to the ground, and after they’d pinned him down they used a Taser on him. All the while he can be seen trying to gesture and say, “No ears.” Mistic later explained, “When I got pulled over, I tried to come because the light was in my face and it scared me. I was trying to talk, I was trying to say something, but you didn’t know I was deaf.”

Officers charged Mistic with resisting arrest, second-degree assault on a police officer, and a stop-sign violation. According to the police report, one officer hurt himself during the scuffle. Mistic spent four months in jail, unable to afford bail, isolated, and denied access to an interpreter.

His lawyer later said, “While in jail, Mr. Mistic suffered even further indignity, humiliation, isolation, and discrimination due to being deaf due to being unable to communicate.” Not good looks for the Sheriff’s Office operating the jail.

After two years out on bail, a District Attorney finally had the foresight to drop all charges. But the ordeal wasn’t over. Mistic filed a federal lawsuit, claiming the officers used unnecessary force and violated his civil rights. His attorney pointed out, “The ADA creates an additional layer of affirmative obligations on police officers to ensure that they are able to effectively communicate with disabled members of the public.”

Such traffic stops don’t always end in tragedy. Attorney Andrew Flusche shared a lighter story involving a bus full of deaf passengers. When police stopped the van for suspected intoxication, the group handed a written note to explain that none of them could hear or speak. The officer not only handled the situation calmly and respectfully, but apparently still tells the story and pokes fun at how long it took him to figure out what was going on.

“Usually, when officers understand what’s happening, they adapt to the situation,” Flusche said. “But things go badly when officers don’t realize that you don’t understand them.”

For Mistic, though, there was no adaptation—just a brutal misunderstanding with life-changing consequences. You can see Flusche’s discussion of these situations in the video below.