Video shows deaf woman’s kids interpreting for North Las Vegas police

New video shows the children of a deaf woman being used to translate for her as she was detained last month by North Las Vegas police.

Andrea “Dre” Hollingsworth was put in handcuffs on April 7 after her former friend claimed Hollingsworth was stalking her on the 5400 block of Ragged Robin Court.

In the two hours of video released Thursday by the North Las Vegas Police Department, Hollingsworth’s daughters tell police that the friend owed their mother money, which she had texted about collecting that evening. Officers ask the woman’s two daughters to translate at least a dozen times on the officer’s behalf.

Howard Rosenblum, CEO of the National Association of the Deaf, said in a statement to the Review-Journal last month that family members should never be used as interpreters, especially when police departments have professionals available.

“Family members, including minor children, are inherently not impartial and often do not possess the requisite training or vocabulary to interpret effectively or accurately,” Rosenblum said. “To rely on children to interpret is extremely risky — not only is it automatically ineffective communication under federal law, but it is often very traumatizing for the children and the parent.”

North Las Vegas police spokesman Alex Cuevas said the department has sign language and oral interpreting services available on call 24 hours a day, but he did not say why an interpreter was not called for Hollingsworth.

In a report from the department, officer Michael Rose wrote that Hollingsworth made it clear that she was deaf but was “very uncooperative” and seemed to be focused on her phone. He described her use of American Sign Language as “constant erratic hand movements” and said her car was full of belongings, so he could not tell if she had a weapon.

When Hollingsworth could not understand requests to sit down, Rose is seen on video asking her daughters to translate before pushing her to the ground, leaving the girls screaming and crying.

The woman tells officers multiple times in the video that she can’t hear them and can’t read lips. One of her daughters pleads with an officer to release her from handcuffs so she can use sign language or write on a notepad.

“How can she sign with her hands behind her?” the girl asks an officer during the video.

After more than 30 minutes of interaction with police, the woman and her daughters are released back to her car. Cuevas said no charges were filed against Hollingsworth.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.