Helen Keller on Halloween Weekend

From: Daily Nexus, UC Santa Barbara's Student Newspaper, CA
Nov. 4, 2002

aturday, Nov. 2, 12:35 a.m.: Officers patrolling the 6600 block of DP noticed an 18-year-old male leaning up against a parked car in a parking lot. His head was facing down and his eyes were closed.

The officer, who also noticed that there wasn't a sign in the parking lot that said 'rest stop,' tapped the man on the shoulder but received no response. When the officer then squeezed the man's shoulder, the man lifted his head up. When the officer asked him if he was okay, the man did not respond.

Not noticing that the man was obviously a deaf mute, the officer asked him what his name was. Apparently by reading the officer's lips, the man told him his name. His speech was slurred and incoherent.

When the officer asked him if he knew where he was, he again did not respond. When the officer asked him if he had any friends with him, he looked around the parking lot and said, "San Diego." He must have read the officers lips incorrectly that time. The officer then asked the man to stand without the support of the car.

He let go and fell, perhaps due to a problem with his knees. He was arrested for public intoxication and transported to the Santa Barbara County Jail, where he found support from the bars he was stuck behind.

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