He Thought Maniac Cops Meant Put Your Hands Up. So He Did. [Shooting at 6:45] From [HERE] and [HERE] and [HERE] The estate of Juventino Bermudez-Arenas, who was shot and killed by racist suspect McMinnville police officers two years ago, has filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against the city and three officers.

The federal suit accuses white Officers Brian McMullen, Justin James and Sgt. Rhonda Sandoval of using excessive force in violation of Bermudez-Arenas' civil rights. It accuses the city of failing to train its officers in the proper use of force and conversational Spanish.

Bermudez-Arenas, 33, was a customer at a 7-Eleven convenience store in McMinnville on Nov. 15, 2014. For unknown reasons, the suit said, he stabbed another customer and then fled on foot.

Officer Brian McMullen and Sgt. Rhonda Sandoval responded to the store and began to provide emergency aid to the victim. A witness gave the officers a description of the suspect.

Bermudez-Arenas returned home, told his family members in his native language of Spanish "words to the effect that he 'had a problem and was going to turn himself in,''' the suit said. He walked back toward the 7-Eleven to talk to the officers and turn himself in.

According to the claim, McMullen and James, who had also arrived at the scene, were standing on the sidewalk outside the store with the store clerk when Bermudez-Arenas came around the corner and stood several yards away from them.

One of the witnesses spotted him and identified him as the suspect. James immediately drew his gun and pointed it at Bermudez-Arenas as he gave verbal commands to him in English, which Bermudez-Arenas didn't speak, the lawsuit said.

McMullen, who had gone into the store briefly, drew his gun when he came back out along with Sandoval.

Bermudez-Arenas, the suit alleges, stayed where he was with his hands up when the officers fired at him. The three officers fired a total of 15 shots.

Bermudez-Arenas was taken by ambulance to Willamette Valley Medical Center, where he suffered gunshot wounds to his chest, thighs, groin, arms and back. He died of the wounds to his chest, an autopsy found.

Footage from the police dashboard camera showed Bermudez-Arenas had raised his hands above his head, with a knife in one hand. Over the next 15 seconds, officers are heard yelling at him to get on the ground and drop the knife. He made no sudden or fast movements and kept his hands raised above his head. He placed his hands in the air upon hearing their commands - which he could not understand. The cops made no attempt to speak Spanish - within 15 seconds he was shot over and over. 

According to Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry, the officers fired at Bermudez-Arenas when he shook his hands in the air and appeared to take a step toward police. Berry defended the actions of the officers, saying they did what they were trained to do when Bermudez-Arenas failed to drop his knife.

"They certainly do not have time to determine who they are looking at and what their first language choice would be,'' Berry said in December 2014 when he announced the officers' use of force was justified.

The lawsuit, filed by Portland attorney R. Brendan Dunnigan, argues that the officers fired without justification and the city failed to train its officers on proper gun use, use of less-than-lethal forms of force, as well as conversation-level Spanish.

It alleges the officers continued to fire at Bermudez-Arenas after he had fallen to the ground and after he was already immobile.

The suit noted that the 2010 U.S Census put McMinnville's Latino population at about 20.6 percent.

The city "exhibited deliberate indifference to the risk of injury or death that would arise from not being able to communicate with a Spanish-speaking subject,'' Dunnigan wrote in the lawsuit.

Bermudez-Arenas fatally stabbed Parker Moore, 20, of Woodinville, Washington, that night. Moore was a student and football player at Linfield College. Bermudez-Arenas had done tree farm work.

The plaintiff is listed as Bermudez-Arena's sister, Rosalinda Bermudez-Arenas, the personal representative of her brother's estate. The lawsuit requests a jury trial and seeks an unspecified amount of damages for his family's physical and mental suffering, loss of companionship and funeral and burial expenses.