Opinion ID: 6323813
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The May 30, 2016 Incident

Text: The first incident took place on the evening of May 30, 2016, in Oconto. Oconto Police Officers Glenn Sowle and Erek Belongia arrived at Lange’s residence in response to a noise complaint. Officer Sowle and Lange offered competing versions of what transpired. According to Officer Sowle, upon arriving, the officers could hear banging on a door inside the home. Lange’s daughter, R., then came outside and said that Lange’s friends, who are also deaf, had caused the noise. Lange came out after a few minutes, yelling and screaming. R. tried signing to 4 Nos. 20-3048, 21-1110 Lange that R. did not call the police, and Officer Sowle attempted to tell Lange verbally that the officers had responded to a noise complaint from a neighbor. Lange herself testified that she was upset and yelled at R. to “[s]hut up” and “[s]top it.” Officer Sowle testified that he wrote on his notepad asking Lange to “please be quiet” and showed that message to her “a number of times”—although Lange testified that he only showed it once—but she still would not keep quiet. Officer Sowle testified that he could smell a strong odor of intoxicants coming from Lange, so he wrote on his notepad, “How much have you had?” Lange did not answer. Officer Sowle stated that after everybody calmed down, he told them verbally that if the officers had to come back, they would arrest somebody. According to Officer Sowle, all parties “agreed to call it a night.” About fifteen minutes later, the officers received another call about a disturbance at Lange’s residence. Officer Sowle testified that, when he returned, he could hear “yelling and screaming coming from inside the house.” R. came outside and said that Lange had locked them out of the house. Lange’s next-door neighbors, Doug and Cheryl Wusterbarth, also came outside and were upset. They told Officer Sowle that Lange had been fighting with and hitting her children in the street, and they complained about “drugs going in and out of the house.” Officer Sowle testified that Lange came outside and started yelling and screaming again. He verbally requested that she please be quiet, but she did not comply. He stated that he again showed her his notebook with the “please be quiet” message. Lange still did not comply. Other neighbors came out, and they also said that Lange had fought with her Nos. 20-3048, 21-1110 5 children in the street. At that time, Officer Sowle had R. sign to Lange that he was placing her under arrest for disorderly conduct. Lange signed back asking, “Why are we being placed under arrest?” R. showed Officer Sowle the sign for arrest by clicking the wrists together, and he mimicked that sign. Officer Sowle testified that he placed Lange’s handcuffs on in the front in response to a comment from R. about protecting Lange’s ability to communicate with her hands. As Officer Sowle walked Lange to the squad car after placing her in handcuffs, R. told him that Lange was requesting an interpreter. He said that he called dispatch to report the request. According to Officer Sowle, as they drove to the jail, Lange was yelling, screaming, and jumping around in the back of the car. At the jail, she demanded to know why she was being arrested. Officer Sowle told her it was for disorderly conduct, and Lange became upset again. The parties do not dispute that Lange never received an interpreter at the jail. At trial, Officer Sowle testified that he believed that Lange “fully understood what was going on.” He stated that he had at least four or five previous contacts with Lange, and during those contacts, he had primarily communicated with Lange using a pen and paper, as well as speaking verbally. He contended that Lange had a strong ability to read and write, as well as lip read, and they could effectively communicate through these methods. Officer Sowle further testified that— other than during the May 30, 2016 incident—Lange never requested an ASL interpreter during any of her contacts with him. Finally, Officer Sowle stated that Lange was easily agitated, and communication became difficult if not impossible when she was agitated. He added that he was concerned for 6 Nos. 20-3048, 21-1110 the safety of Lange’s children on the night of her arrest, and that concern factored into his decision to arrest Lange. Lange, however, testified that she had great difficulty understanding the May 30, 2016 interaction with the police. She said that she did not know if R. interpreted Lange’s questions to the police or the fact that she wanted an interpreter. Lange said that she attempted to request an interpreter through R. as well as through verbal communication, body language, and a written note. She said that if she had received an interpreter, she “would have been less upset because I would have understood what was going on.” Several other witnesses testified regarding the May 30, 2016 incident, as well as other interactions Lange had with the Oconto Police Department. Lange’s next-door neighbor at the time, Doug Wusterbarth, confirmed that he witnessed Lange and R. fighting in the street and called the police. He testified that he observed the police attempting to talk to Lange after they arrived. He saw Lange and R. signing back and forth and watched an officer offer Lange a pad of paper. Nonetheless, the yelling continued. Wusterbarth said that the police asked Lange to be quiet and go back in her house, but Lange did not comply or quiet down. He stated that the officer had a notepad in his hand “pretty much the whole time” and offered it to Lange “[a]t least a couple times.” Wusterbarth testified that Lange appeared intoxicated, and he never heard her request an interpreter (although he acknowledged the possibility he simply did not hear such a request). Retired Oconto Police Chief Bernard Faith testified that Lange voluntarily came to the Oconto Police Department two Nos. 20-3048, 21-1110 7 days after the incident, on June 1, 2016. With her son, B., interpreting, Lange requested a complaint and witness forms regarding her arrest on May 30; she later returned the completed complaint. Both Chief Faith and current Oconto Police Chief Michael Rehberg testified generally that they had other contacts with Lange, and in their experience, she never requested an ASL interpreter. Chief Faith would write notes to her, and she would frequently use her children to translate back to him. Chief Rehberg would let Lange dictate the method of communication; if she wanted to write on paper or use her children to interpret, he would follow her choice. According to Chief Rehberg, R. said that Lange could read lips, but the speaker needed to face Lange and speak clearly and slowly for her to do so. Finally, Rehberg acknowledged that it would be inappropriate to rely on Lange’s minor children to interpret under the department’s current policy, which it adopted after the incidents. Rounding out the witnesses from the Oconto Police Department, Detective Nicole Crocker also testified—over Lange’s objection. Detective Crocker was not present at the May 30, 2016 incident, but nonetheless had over a dozen contacts with Lange. In Crocker’s experience, Lange never requested an ASL interpreter; instead, she estimated, Lange relied on one of her children to interpret about 75% of the time and used a pen and paper the rest of the time. Detective Crocker would follow Lange’s decision to initiate communication through her children or using notes. Detective Crocker believed Lange was adept at lip reading based on what B. had told her, as well as her experience with Lange. Lange could also speak well enough for Detective Crocker to fully understand her. Lange’s demeanor when agitated, however, made it impossible to effectively communicate. Finally, Detective 8 Nos. 20-3048, 21-1110 Crocker testified that, based on her review of records from the Oconto County Sheriff’s Department, Lange had around 115 total contacts with Oconto County agencies, including both the Oconto and Oconto Falls police departments.