The family of a fighter against police violence is suing in the name of the slain activist. The controversy starts with a warrant for his arrest that had been issued hours before he was killed by police. The federal task force encountered Michael Reinoehl in Lacey, Washington, after he shot and killed a far-right activist in downtown Portland. The lawsuit says Reinoehl did not need to die. He was shot and killed by a U.S. Marshals task force Sept. 3, 2020. The lawsuit states that officers had no plan to arrest him without using deadly force.
The estate is asking for compensation for Reinoehl’s pre-death pain and suffering, the violation of his civil rights and emotional damages inflicted on his children. The federal civil rights lawsuit was filed last week on Tuesday. It names the United States, Washington state, Pierce County and the city of Lakewood. It also names the four officers who fired 40 rounds during the failed arrest attempt: Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputies James Oleole and Craig Gocha, Lakewood Police officer Michael Merrill and Washington State Department of Corrections Officer Jacob Whitehurst.
From media reports and based on the lawsuit, Reinoehl has two children, Deaven Reinoehl, who was 18 when his father was killed, and a minor, identified in the lawsuit only as L.L.R. The activist father’s death sparked immediate controversy, both for its political context — then U.S. Attorney General William Barr said locating him was an “unmistakable demonstration that the United States will be governed by law, not violent mobs” — and because of the appearance of possible police negligence.
It is reported that officers killed Michael Forest Reinoehl while attempting to arrest him in front of an apartment complex in Lacey, Washington. Reinoehl, a self-described anti-fascist who had spent the summer of 2020 providing security for racial justice protesters in Portland, had been on the run for five days after he shot and killed racist, far-right activist Aaron “Jay” Danielson in downtown Portland.
On the books, official statements at the time claimed, alternatively, that Reinoehl had pointed a firearm at a deputy U.S. Marshal who were dressed similar to far right racists. Another claimed Reinoehl was in the process of pulling a firearm from his pocket when he was shot. Soon after the shooting, civilian witnesses told media sources that the officers gave no warning, didn’t announce themselves, and rushed at Reinoehl in unmarked vehicles with no flashing lights.
Adding more context to the killing, the four officers were federally deputized members of the U.S. Marshals Violent Offender Task Force based out of Tacoma. The lawsuit points to flawed information provided to task force members during a briefing on the search for Reinoehl. “Information provided during the briefing included the inaccurate, misleading, incomplete, and/or out of context information, such as the claim that Reinoehl considered himself to be at ‘war’ with police,” the complaint reads.
The complaint alleges that the officer briefing left out critical context about Reinoehl’s state of mind. The briefing didn’t mention Reinoehl had received death threats from the far right, that he had claimed self defense in the Danielson shooting or that Danielson also had a gun when Reinoehl shot and killed him.
U.S. Deputy Marshal Ryan Kimmel — who had received the tip about Reinoehl’s whereabouts and assembled the task force Sept. 3 — did not give a statement to Thurston County investigators despite multiple requests.
