Apex, N.C. — Any traffic stop is scary – for the driver, who may have done something wrong, and for the officer who doesn’t know what to expect.
While most drivers can adopt common-sense tactics to defuse that tension – communicate clearly and politely, keep hands visible, stay in the vehicle – those with disabilities or special needs face an additional challenge. This weekend in Apex, those drivers can get special training to help them anticipate and ease some of the anxiety of a traffic stop.
Twenty-year-old Kyla Ponciano has cerebral palsy and is unable to drive without her mother present, but, after Police Encounters training, she hopes to get her license soon.
“She really wants her independence, and she says this one way to get it,” her mother, Sheryl Ponciano, said.
Trainer Michael Macario, of the Raleigh Police Department, counseled Kyla Ponciano to tell an officer about her disability and the fact that it might delay her responses and reactions.
