Deisy Garcia and her two daughter, ages 1 and 2, were stabbed to death on Jan. 18 in their apartment. Garcia, who was allegedly killed by her husband in a fit of jealous rage, had reached out to New York Police Department for help months before her death.

The crime, which can be called grisly, horrific and heart-breaking under any circumstance, was made worse by the fact that Garcia had sought protection against her abusive husband Miguel Mejia-Ramos. According to reports, Garcias told police explicitly, in writing, that she feared her husband would kill her.

Unfortunately she wrote it in Spanish, and according to the New York Post, that statement was never translated into English until after Garcia and her two daughters were dead.

The case sheds a new light on a lawsuit currently working its way through the court system that was filed by Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) on March 21, 2013. In the complaint, LSNYC names as defendants the city, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and eight individual police officer (six of which are identified only as "John/Jane Does"). In the lawsuit, LSNYC says that the police department's failure to make accommodations for those whose English is not up to par has had devastating effects on some of New York's residents.

"While it is the official policy of New York City and of the NYPD to provide interpreter assistance to individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP), the reality is that immigrant New Yorkers with language barriers are routinely denied access to police services and routinely face unlawful discrimination," LSNYC said in a statement. "In some instances, LEP victims of domestic violence are arrested because the NYPD relies solely on the reports of their English-proficient abusers."

LSNYC says that the Garcia case follows an unfortunately familiar pattern.

"We have seen victims of violence denied NYPD protection because of language barriers one too many times," said LSNYC Equal Rights Initiative Coordinator Amy Taylor. "Police services are vital services that all New Yorkers must be able to access when in danger. Our condolences go out to the Garcia family."

The LSNYC lawsuit goes even further, alleging that not only does the police department not comply with the procedure of providing interpretation for LEP residents, it alleges that police also "degrades, ridicules and otherwise mistreats LEP individuals who request interpreter services, actively demeaning them for their lack of English proficiency."

According to Buzzfeed, 911 operators in New York used language translation services 7,000 times last November, while police officers on the street accessed that same service only 32 times.

"The NYPD has more foreign language speaking officers than any police department in the country, including thousands of Spanish speaking officers," the NYPD responded to WNYC News in a written statement. "Also, the NYPD has a corps of 19,000 members of the service who can provide interpretation services in over 70 languages. The Department works with Berlitz and Geneva language experts to test and certify officers' language proficiency - more than 1,200 interpreters are certified."