Judge Tosses Out Evidence Against Spanish Speaking DWI Suspect

Tells court Chinese speaker would be a “different issue”

A North Carolina judge threw out the roadside breathalyzer test results of a Spanish speaker, saying that the officers had a duty to give him his rights in Spanish. The decision by Durham County District Court Judge Richard Chaney in a case against Francisco Pereyra is the latest in a string of judgments that have dismissed breathalyzer results due to the language barrier. Chaney’s judgment on the rights of Spanish speaking DWI offenders went a step further, when he added "If you’re talking about someone who speaks Chinese, you have a different issue."

"Our tradition in the United States is clear," said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of U.S. English, Inc. "We are an English speaking nation and all residents must be encouraged to learn English. Our customs also dictate that we provide translation services to non-English speakers in emergency situations. However, it is distinctly un-American to provide preferential treatment to the speakers of some languages over speakers of others, and to elevate that preference to a 'constitutional right.'"

While English and Spanish are the two most common languages in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, they are by no means the only languages spoken. There are 73 languages spoken in the seven-county area, 17 of which have more than 1,000 speakers, including Tagalog, Urdu and Gujarathi. In all, there are more than 55,000 residents who speak neither English nor Spanish at home.

"The growing belief among some government officials that the United States is a two-language nation has serious consequences," Mujica remarked. “We are a nation that has worked fervently toward equality between our many different demographic groups. Elevating one foreign language or one group of immigrants over another smacks of the darker days of American history.

"If this legal argument is accepted, there will be also be enormous practical costs. We cannot excuse the dangerous and deadly crime of drunk driving due to a driver’s inability to understand English. Pleading limited English proficiency is of little solace to the families of those killed in such tragedies."

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.