The estate of a man killed by a U.S. Marshals task force in September 2020 has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit, claiming law enforcement officers had no plans to arrest him for the killing of a supporter of former President Donald Trump in Portland, Oregon, without using deadly force
“Officers dressed in militia-style fatigues raced a short distance through a quiet residential neighborhood in three unmarked SUVs toward their target: a man they were supposed to arrest,” the lawsuit reads. “Four officers opened fire.”
The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, names the United States, Washington state, Pierce County, the city of Lakewood and the four federally deputized officers in the death of Michael Forest Reinoehl.
The 48-year-old Reinoehl, who described himself as “100% ANTIFA” on social media, fatally shot Aaron “Jay” Danielson after a pro-Trump car rally in downtown Portland in August 2020.
“Their first shots were fired from inside one of the SUVs, shooting through their own windshield into a parked Jetta,” the lawsuit states in describing police action in going after Reinoehl in front of an apartment complex in Lacey. “The man ducked and ran away from the threat, looking for cover. He only made it a few yards before he was surrounded and gunned down.”
The personal representative of Reinoehl’s estate admits Reinoehl had a pistol in his pocket at the time, but claims he “never even fired it.” Officers shot property in the neighborhood and grazed a child playing nearby, the representative claims in the lawsuit.
Danielson’s shooting was captured in a Facebook video posted Aug. 29, 2020. According to court documents, police found probable cause that Reinoehl was the suspect from the video, and a Multnomah County judge issued an arrest warrant on Sept. 3, 2020.
Reinoehl said in an interview with Vice News shortly before his death that he shot Danielson in self-defense.
“I felt that my life, and other people around me’s lives, were in danger,” he said. “I felt like I had no choice but to do what I did.”
The estate is asking for compensation for Reinoehl’s pre-death pain and suffering, violation of his civil rights and emotional damages inflicted on his two children.
