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His silence mistaken, deaf man attacked

By ALEX BRANCH

Star-Telegram staff writer

FORT WORTH -- A store cashier struck a deaf customer in the head with a crowbar after he mistook the man's silence for rudeness and disrespect, police said.



The cashier, Ricky Benard Young, 20, faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.



The customer, Cody Goodnight, 31, suffered "a large knot" on his head during the incident, which occurred Saturday at the Family Dollar Store at 4117 E. Lancaster Ave.



"I can't believe someone would hit him for not speaking," said Goodnight's mother, Kay Goodnight. "When you're deaf, you don't make a point of starting conversations with people."



Young's defense attorney, Mark Scott, said Thursday that he was recently assigned the case and declined to comment.



Kay Goodnight called police after her injured son returned home from the store late Saturday morning. Family members translated Cody Goodnight's story to officers using sign language.



Goodnight said he went to the Family Dollar several blocks from their house to buy a soft drink for his 5-year-old son. Inside the store, he put the soda on the counter to pay.



The cashier tried to speak to him but got angry when Goodnight didn't respond, Goodnight told police. The cashier threw Goodnight's change at him, scattering it on the floor.



As Goodnight picked it up, the cashier hit him in the side of the head with the crowbar, Goodnight said.



Officers went to the store, where Young immediately asked if they were there about what "happened earlier," said Lt. Dean Sullivan, a police spokesman. The cashier told officers that he had tried to start a friendly conversation with Goodnight but that Goodnight wouldn't acknowledge him.



At one point, Young told officers, Goodnight mumbled something that Young thought was racial in nature, Sullivan said. Young told officers he struck Goodnight because he thought Goodnight was going to assault him.



After officers told Young that Goodnight was deaf and unable to communicate verbally, Young responded "Oh," Sullivan said.



"Upon further investigation, it appeared the suspect became frustrated when the victim wouldn't respond or acknowledge his attempts to converse," Sullivan said. "He became outraged and struck the victim in an unwarranted attack."



The store's surveillance tape was erased or taped over prior to officers' arrival, Sullivan said.



A corporate spokesman for the Family Dollar Store did not return a phone message Thursday.



Cody Goodnight was treated at the hospital for his injury but still has pain in his head and neck, Kay Goodnight said Thursday.



Deaf since the age of 2, when he suffered a high fever, Goodnight speaks in guttural sounds -- "deaf speak" as his mother calls it.



His stepfather, Barry Adair, said Goodnight doesn't like talking to people he doesn't know.



"He gets embarrassed because people make fun of the way he talks," Adair said. "He's not trying to be rude or unfriendly. You just can't understand him unless you're around him a lot."



Emily Robinson, a Fort Worth deafness resource specialist, said that while it is unusual for a deaf person to be attacked physically, misunderstandings are common. People sometimes take deaf people for rude when they are unresponsive, she said.



"It is a really big problem," Robinson said. "Businesses should be professional and sensitive to deaf people. There are training workshops about the deaf culture and what to expect in interactions with us."

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My 14 yr old son and 10 yr old daughter went to a convenient store late this evening to get drinks at the ICEE machine there.  As we finished filling our three cups with our beverages, the freeze signal came on the machine letting us know that the machine needed to refreeze before it would produce more drinks.  A store clerk/manager yelled from a back room to "stop using the ICEE machine!" in a rather rude and angry tone.  At the time she said this we had already started walking away from the area of the machine.  I started to go to the front counter with my drink and my kids were following me, when I asked another clerk if the person in the back realized she was yelling at customers?  The girl shrugged her shoulders and turned from us.  Then the woman from the back came out and looked at me with a angry expression on her face.  I asked her if she was yelling at me about the ICEE machine.  She said, "Yes, I was trying to get you to leave it alone so it would refreeze."  I tried to let her know that we were already finished and were leaving the area when the freeze beeper came on and that I did not appreciate her yelling at us like that.  She asked, Well, how was I suppose to know you weren't still there cause I was in the back with my hands full.  I told her that I had never been treated so rudely or badly in my life in public.  I told her that I had worked at a convenient store before as well and many other customer service oriented places, and that I had never been rude to a customer like she had been to me.  I then slammed my drink on the front counter and had my kids leave their drinks behind as well.  If we were going to be treated so badly then we wouldn't do any more business there.  As we were exiting the building, she literally said, "_uck You!"  She then came around from the counter to pursue my children and me outside.  She hollered that I was acting like a 2 year old.  It was a night of fun till then as we were out celebrating my son's 14th birhtday.  Has anyone else had this happen to them?