Domestic Violence Survivor Reaches Settlement with SFPD
After Denial of Interpreter, Wrongful Arrest
San Francisco, CA – Today, Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, Cooley LLP and a coalition of domestic violence service providers announced that a settlement had been reached between Dora Mejia and the City and County of San Francisco in a police misconduct lawsuit. Ms. Mejia filed a lawsuit after the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) denied her request for language access and wrongfully arrested her following an incident in which she was the victim of domestic violence and sexual assault.
“What happened to Ms. Mejia at the hands of SFPD was wrong. She has a right to language access and should never have been arrested. We applaud Ms. Mejia for bravely coming forward to demand justice,” said Saira Hussain, staff attorney at Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus. “Her case has spurred important changes within SFPD to improve language access and responses to domestic violence, but SFPD has far to go to ensure their practices match their policies. We will continue working alongside our community partners to uphold the rights of our community members.”
In May 2014, Ms. Mejia’s ex-partner assaulted her and then contacted SFPD. When officers arrived, they refused Ms. Mejia’s repeated requests for an interpreter despite her obvious limited English proficiency. By contrast, the officers chose to provide interpretation to her ex-partner. The officers then unjustly arrested Ms. Mejia, leaving her three children with her abusive partner. Because of a temporary restraining order and repeated threats by her ex-partner, Ms. Mejia was separated from her children for one month. After her release, Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus and Cooley LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ms. Mejia against SFPD in May 2015.
“I am grateful that I can finally put this experience behind me and move forward with my family,” said Dora Mejia, through an interpreter. “I hope that all city agencies, including SFPD, provide language access to anyone who needs it so that no one else has to experience what I’ve had to endure.”
“We are delighted to celebrate Dora and the end of her struggle with SFPD, especially on International Women’s Day,” said Veronica Nieto, Domestic Worker Outreach Coordinator at Mujeres Unidas y Activas. “Dora’s case is representative of the larger struggle for justice around domestic violence, language access, and police misconduct, and we will not stop fighting until there are no more injustices.”
Community organizations urged SFPD to make the following changes to better their language access practices:
Evaluation and report by an independent auditor to determine the areas where SFPD needs to improve in providing language access.
Regular trainings of all officers on language access. These trainings should include pre-tests and post-tests to measure the effectiveness of the trainings.
Better coordination between emergency dispatchers and SFPD to ensure bilingual officers respond to scenes where someone is limited English proficient.
Analysis of the data collected around bilingual officers who provide assistance in another language.
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Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus was founded in 1972 as the nation’s first legal and civil rights Asian American organization. Recognizing that social, economic, political and racial inequalities continue to exist in the United States, Advancing Justice – ALC is committed to the pursuit of equality and justice for all sectors of our society, with a specific focus directed toward addressing the needs of low-income, immigrant and underserved Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Visit www.advancingjustice-alc.org.