Although Wash Cops Had No Articulable Reason to Believe a Black Man Bought Drugs They Stopped Him Anyway. Then Cops Pretended a Screw Driver in the Car was a Weapon and Shot Him Dead. No Charges Filed

From [HERE] and [HERE] A team of prosecutors on Monday found that Clark County Deputy Sean Boyle was justified in the shooting death of 30-year-old Jenoah Donald during a traffic stop on Feb. 4.

The determination that Deputy Boyle acted in "good faith" was the result of a first-of-its-kind review involving prosecutors from five counties: Lewis, Pend Oreille, Yakima, Pierce and Snohomish [yep all racist suspects] .

A $17 million wrongful death lawsuit was filed on his behalf in June. Tacoma-based Herrmann Law Group said Donald “was the target of an illegal ‘pretextual stop’ ”by Deputy Sean Boyle on Feb. 4 in Hazel Dell.

The law firm cited a 1999 Washington Supreme Court case that found it’s unconstitutional for police to use a traffic stop as an excuse to investigate suspected criminal activity. [MORE]

The court has explained in a “pretextual traffic stop” “the police are pulling over a citizen, not to enforce the traffic code, but to conduct a criminal investigation unrelated to the driving. Therefore the reasonable articulable suspicion that a traffic infraction has occurred which justifies an exception to the warrant requirement for an ordinary traffic stop does not justify a stop for criminal investigation. . . "Although federal courts construing the Fourth Amendment have concluded pretextual traffic stops may be accomplished without a warrant, we are not bound by that result under our state constitution which provides unique and substantially greater protection."

“We have observed that ultimately our state constitutional provision is designed to guard against "unreasonable search and seizure, made without probable cause." State v. Fields, 85 Wash.2d 126, 130, 530 P.2d 284 (1975). However, the problem with a pretextual traffic stop is that it is a search or seizure which cannot be constitutionally justified for its true reason (i.e., speculative criminal investigation), but only for some other reason (i.e., to enforce traffic code) which is at once lawfully sufficient but not the real reason. Pretext is therefore a triumph of form over substance; a triumph of expediency at the expense of reason. But it is against the standard of reasonableness which our constitution measures exceptions to the general rule, which forbids search or seizure absent a warrant. Pretext is result without reason” .State v. Ladson, 979 P.2d 833, 138 Wn.2d 343 (Wash. 1999)

“The deputies believed Jenoah was leaving a drug house, but they did not have probable cause to pull him over for a drug crime. So, instead, the deputy pulled him over using the excuse of a defective rear light,” Lindquist said.

Deputy Boyle said during an interview that Donald was initially cooperative before other deputies arrived on scene. When Boyle went back to his vehicle to run the ID, another white deputy, Holly Troupe, had arrived and saw what she described as a “ball-handled” sharp object — later determined to be a screwdriver. [“a ball-handled” sharp objected?? Only a liar cop would describe a screw driver in such a novel way. And if she lied she could also ]. A third deputy, Greg Agar, also arrived for the broken headlight stop.

During the unlawful stop deputy Troupe claimed she saw a weapon in Donald's car, when there wasn't one. She saw a screwdriver. While in his patrol car, Deputy Boyle heard another deputy tell Donald, "show me your hands."

When Boyle returned, he ran up Donald's car, opened the door and told him he needed to get out and he threatened to use a police dog on him. He eventually punched Donald in the nose, investigators said, and Troupe attempted “pain compliance” techniques with her hands under Donald’s jaw.

That lead another officer to attempt to forcefully remove the 30-year-old from the vehicle.

According to FUNKTIONARY:

Corporate Police State - the enforcer of the commodification of life within the Spectacle Surveillance Society. Anyone who thinks that he or she is immune to the baseless destruction of his or her life (including immediate family members) by a "government" or corporation does live in a happy menagerie—enjoy your illusions. (See: GUPI & Judicial Victimization)

According to prosecutors, Donald grabbed Deputy Boyle's outer vest, making his taser inaccessible. Meanwhile, the engine of the sedan Donald drove remained on. During the assault on Donald, deputies said they heard the engine revving. Boyle told investigators Donald grabbed him by the ballistics vest and pulled him toward the car.

No body camera footage exists from the encounter, so investigators relied heavily on the accounts of the officers involved.

Prosecutors claim the car started to move forward while Donald reportedly still had a grip on Deputy Boyle. Prosecutors claim unable to grab his taser, Deputy Boyle fired two shots, hitting Donald. Another deputy was in the process of drawing her weapon when the shooting happened.

After the shooting the police told Donald’s family he was dead but he had actually survived. He died a week after the shooting, after he was taken off life support. [MORE]