Investigators on Wednesday found no weapons in the vehicle driven by Jenoah Donald, a 30-year-old Black man from Vancouver, the night he was shot after being pulled over for a broken tail light.
A new affidavit lists the items recovered by investigators with the Vancouver Police Department when they searched the bronze-colored 1999 Mercedes-Benz he drove that night.
Among the items found: a wallet, a medical bracelet belonging to Donald, two cellphones, a container for eyeglasses, a laptop and a cordless drill.
The findings come to light less than a day after investigators released a summary of accounts by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputies of the Feb. 4 traffic stop. These accounts suggest the stop escalated into a fight near the car.
Deputy Holly Troupe, one of three deputies at the scene, said she saw within the car a “ball-handled” object with a 3- to 4-inch “stake” protruding from it, which prompted her to tell Donald to show his hands, according to investigators.
After Troupe told Donald to show his hands several times, the situation reportedly escalated, according to investigators. When another deputy, Sean Boyle, tried to pull Donald from the car, Troupe told investigators she worried he might grab the object.
“Troupe indicated she was concerned that (Donald)... was going to gain access to the implement previously described as being a sharpened stake and use this to assault (Boyle) who was in a compromised position being pulled into the vehicle,” investigators said.
It was never stated in the release whether Donald ever reached for the object as the deputy reportedly feared.
Mark Lindquist, of Herrmann Law Group, the firm that represents Donald’s family, said he believed the object referenced in the update is the cordless drill. OPB has asked investigators to confirm.
“A cordless drill is not a weapon except in the movies,” Lindquist said. “Jenoah was no threat to the officers and that situation was escalated by the officers.”
The shooting occurred less than a mile from where Clark County deputies shot and killed Kevin Peterson Jr., who is also Black, three months prior.
