Name: Jenoah Donald.
Died: February 12, 2021.
Age at death: 30.
Cause of death: Police shooting.
Location: Hazel Dell, Washington, USA.
Details:
Jenoah was driving down a neighborhood street when he was pulled over by the police–ostensibly, for a broken taillight.
The following is the story is as it was told by the police: Jenoah had made no hostile moves when the officer began repeatedly yelling at him to show his hands; then the officers demanded he get out of the car. Jenoah refused. The officer grabbed his arm and tried to pull him out of the car. Jenoah tried to pull his arm back, and the officer punched him in the face. Jenoah kicked the officer away and started the car, trying to drive away. At that point, the officer shot Jenoah twice in the head.
Jenoah was taken to the hospital, where he died after a short time on life support.
Jenoah’s family filed a lawsuit against the police department. The police should not, they say, have escalated the situation the way they did; they should have used their training, and if they had, Jenoah would still be alive.
Editor’s note: Even when reading the police narrative of Jenoah’s death, I noticed exactly what Jenoah’s family did: The officers deliberately escalated the situation; Jenoah seems to have reacted primarily with attempts to get away from the officer who was manhandling him. Instead of politely explaining the problem to Jenoah, they seem to have immediately begun yelling at him about keeping his hands in view, and then kept making demands to an overwhelmed autistic man who responded by simply attempting to escape. It was the police who initiated violence with that first punch, and the police who ended the encounter by killing Jenoah. In their report, the police specify that they were in the same neighborhood as a house that had been the subject of many calls. The subtext seems to be that they were in a “bad neighborhood”, and Jenoah was a black man.
References:
Family of Jenoah Donald files federal suit claiming wrongful death by sheriff’s department
Clark County to cover costs for sheriff, deputies in Donald wrongful death lawsuit
Jenoah Donald decision
Family of Jenoah Donald, man shot and killed by Clark County deputies, files lawsuit
Name: Dustin Paradis.
Name: Edwin Arrigo (also called Edwin Armigo or Erwin Arnigo).
Name: Jameson Shapiro.
Name: Iyad Halak.
Autism Memorial 