Drive Like An Egyptian

This story origoinally appeared on Friday, Oct. 12, 2007

WEST CHESTER — The Chester County Adult Probation Office supervises thousands of defendants each year, most with the relative ease that comes from an experienced staff and a well-tuned system.

But even Common Pleas Judge William Mahon acknowledged that they may have some difficulties in the case of Baha Eldin Zidan, who entered a plea this week to an assault charge stemming from a hit-and-run accident in Phoenixville in early 2006.

Zidan, you see, is Egyptian. He does not speak or write English, only Arabic.

And he is deaf.

And he is mute.

Taking all those factors into account led Mahon to offer the probation department the option of making the bulk of the time they are now responsible for supervising Zidan non-reporting probation — meaning that he will not necessarily have to come to the Chester County Courthouse to speak to — or rather meet with — a probation officer.

“I’ve been doing this for 24 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Chris Murphy, head of the county’s adult probation office.

Zidan entered an Alford plea to a single count of simple assault for the traffic accident in February 2006 that left an 83-year-old borough man in intensive care with a broken arm and multiple leg fractures. In the plea, Zidan does not acknowledge guilt, but agrees it is in his best interest to accept the sentence offered.

Zidan, 42, of West Bridge Street, Phoenixville, entered his plea Monday in front of Mahon with the aid of not one but two American Sign Language interpreters — one of whom traveled all the way from Richmond, Va., to attend the proceedings.

Multiple interpreters are necessary in cases involving hearing impaired defendants because one must translate what is said to the defendant, while the other must translate what the defendant signs to the court.

This case was unusual, those involved said, because not only does Zidan not understand English, but also does not understand American Sign Language — a form of “signing” that combines various hand signals, palm orientations, movements of the hands, arms and body, and facial expressions.

The interpreter “speaking” to Zidan, thus, was forced to use a series of simple gestures to make certain that he understood what was going on. Zidan was represented at the hearing by Phoenixvlle attorney Elliot Goldberg, who could not be reached for comment.

According to an arrest affidavit in the case, the victim, Fred Fisher, was walking east on Pothouse Road bout 6:30 a.m. Jan. 3, 2006, when he was struck by a vehicle travelling east on the road. The car, identified as a 1997 white Ford Escort, left the scene without offering assistance to Fisher or providing drivers’ information.

Police were able to track the car to the Vale Rio Diner, where Zidan works as an assistant. Damage to the car matched some debris left at the accident, and police then tried to interview Zidan.

According to the affidavit, Zidan later went to the borough police department, where he was read his Miranda rights and admitted to striking the victim and not stopping. He was charged with accidents involving death of personal injury, a felony.

But after a hearing in April of this year, Mahon threw out both a statement Zidan gave in the diner parking lot concerning the accident and the videotaped statement he gave police at headquarters. He did so after Goldberg contended that the statements were taken improperly because there was no certified Arabic-language interpreter with signing skills present to accurately translate what the officers were saying to him.

Zidan, Goldberg argued, “could not have made the statements and explanations in any event as he is unable to speak.”

In his sentence, Zidan will spend two years on probation and pay $4,730 to the victim for medical expenses.

Murphy said his department was required by law to provide an interpreter at county expense for Zidan when he reported. “Defendants have a right to that,” he said. “I can’t not do it.”

Zidan is restricted from driving during the first five months of probation so that he can travel only to work, to visit his mother in northern Virginia, and to the probation department.

Assistant District Attorney Steve Jarmon, who prosecuted the case, declined to comment on the matter, other than to say he was satisfied with its disposition and of the relief it gave Fisher’s family.