In a widely shared fundraiser from the Harris family, they wrote:

“Our family is raising funds to cover his memorial and cremation expenses (details pending). Any monies left over will be used to set up a foundation in his name to educate and provide law enforcement proper training on how to confront Deaf people. Subsequently, we hope to change the DMV registration system by requiring states to set up a ‘DEAF’ alert to appear when law enforcement look up a car’s license plate. With this change, Daniel will be a hero in our Deaf community.”

Daniel’s hearing impairment is no excuse for what happened. While his family is correct — police should absolutely be better trained, and license plates could and should provide smarter alerts to first responders — this case boils down to the “shoot first, ask questions later” training police are receiving all over the country. Virtually any other option the officer could’ve considered was better than what he chose in this case, but here we are with another avoidable casualty of police violence.

Daniel Harris should be alive with a speeding ticket, but instead his family is raising funds for his cremation.