ACLU, NAACP allege Vancouver police, Clark County sheriff’s deputies use excessive force, urge federal DOJ investigation
10 November 2021
www.oregonlive.com
10 November 2021
Community groups called Wednesday for the U.S. Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation into the Vancouver Police Department and Clark County Sheriff’s Office for alleged excessive force and discriminatory policing after the fatal shootings of eight people by officers or deputies since February 2019. Three of the men killed were Black and two were Pacific Islanders. Others were in mental health crisis or suicidal, according to a letter the groups sent to the Justice Department. The fatal shootings by the two agencies over the two and a half years mark the highest rate of deadly force by ...
-- On Feb. 19, 2019, Vancouver police shot and killed Clayton Joseph, 16, after arriving at his apartment complex on a report of a fight. Police said the teen was holding a knife and he refused to drop it when ordered to do so. Police fired one shot, striking Joseph in the chest and killing him. He was Pacific Islander-Chuukese.
-- On Feb. 28, 2019, two Vancouver police officers shot and killed Michael Eugene Pierce, 29. They said Pierce was waving two replica guns at himself, passersby and police. Pierce was experiencing homelessness and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. Officers armed with .223-caliber rifles said they ordered Pierce to drop the guns. When he refused and pointed a gun at police, two officers fired five rounds, hitting Pierce in the chest and left leg. The investigation found Pierce was holding BB guns. Pierce was white.
--On March 7, 2019, two Vancouver police officers killed Carlos Hunter, 43, after obtaining a warrant to search him, his car and his home. Officers with a regional drug task force pulled him over in a traffic stop after they saw him drive away from his home. Police said Hunter refused to get out of the car when ordered to do so. The officers tried to pull him out through the open driver’s side door and used their Taser stun guns on him as he struggled but those were ineffective. The officers shot Hunter at least 16 times in the ...
--On April 28, 2020, three Vancouver police officers shot and killed William Abbe, 50, who was homeless. Officers responded to reports of a fight between Abbe and another person near a strip mall. Video footage showed him pacing while six officers surrounded him, rifles drawn, cornering him on a sidewalk next to busy oncoming traffic. Abbe had a shopping cart full of objects, including a rock and other rods that he threw at officers. Police used a Taser against him but said it was ineffective. Abbe, investigators said, made a “deliberate charge” at a sergeant and three of the officers ...
-- On Oct. 4, 2020, two Vancouver police officers killed Andrew Williams, 41, during a domestic violence call. Police had gone to an apartment after learning a man had forced his way inside and stabbed his girlfriend. Williams was walking away from the apartment when officers arrived. One officer chased after Williams and fired her Taser at him but missed. Officers said Williams had a screwdriver and that they ordered him to drop it. When he refused, two officers fired, striking Williams in the abdomen and hip. He was white.
-- On Oct. 29, 2020, three Clark County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Kevin Peterson Jr., 21, after he ran from an undercover drug bust with a gun. Members of a regional drug task force planned to arrest Peterson on an accusation of attempted delivery of controlled substances for allegedly dealing Xanax, the prescription anxiety medication, according to investigators. Confronted by police in the parking lot of a Quality Inn, Peterson got out of his car and ran to the nearby parking lot of a closed U.S. Bank, where he encountered three deputies. One said he saw Peterson pull a ...
-- On Feb. 4, 2021, a Clark County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot Jenoah D. Donald, 30, during a traffic stop for a defective taillight. A deputy ordered Donald out of his car in Hazel Dell but the car began moving forward during a struggle, according to prosecutors. The deputy fired twice, striking Donald once in the head. Donald died eight days later at a hospital. Deputies had been dispatched to a traffic complaint involving two vehicles “that were revving their engines loudly and circling the neighborhood,” and a deputy stopped Donald’s car when it matched a description of one of ...
-- On Oct. 17, 2021, Clark County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Kfin Karuo, 28, after an attempted traffic stop turned into a car chase. The Sheriff’s Office said Karuo was wanted on allegations of first-degree assault with a gun and fled a traffic stop. Deputies forced the fleeing four-door white SUV to stop using a tactical maneuver. When deputies ordered Karuo to put his hands up and get out of the SUV, he pointed a gun at them, according to investigators. Deputies fired at least a dozen shots at Karuo, who collapsed in the driveway of a nearby mobile ...
In its letter to the federal government, the civil rights groups also cited concerns about the Clark County criminal justice system’s treatment of people of color. They referenced a Clark County judge’s derogatory remarks about Peterson, caught on a hot mic in an empty courtroom. Judge Darvin Zimmerman called Peterson “dumb” and “the Black guy they are trying to make an angel out of” in a conversation with a county district court commissioner. Days later, Zimmerman said he was “truly sorry if I offended anyone.” He retired shortly after. “Listening to Judge Zimmerman’s casual disregard for Kevin Peterson Jr.’s life ...
ACLU, NAACP allege Vancouver police, Clark County sheriff’s deputies use excessive force, urge federal DOJ investigation
The groups wrote a letter Wednesday urging the U.S. Department of Justice to open a civil rights investigation into the Vancouver Police Department and Clark County Sheriff’s Office for alleged excessive force and discriminatory policing following the fatal shootings of eight people by officers...
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