Kent police killing of Black man leads to $4.4M settlement and push for new laws

Family members of a young man shot by Kent police in 2017 say the legal settlement they’ve reached with the city will help them heal. But they also say their journey is not over.

Giovonn Joseph-McDade's mother Sonia Joseph said at a press conference Thursday that her son’s death galvanized her to seek changes to the inquest process and state law.

“My journey through this horrifying, ugly process led me to the work on police reform,” she said.

She spoke in Kent’s Canterbury Park. As part of the $4.4 million settlement of a federal civil rights lawsuit, the city of Kent will place a bench there in Joseph-McDade’s memory. That’s where the 20-year old "took his last breath," his family said, after being shot in his car by Kent police in 2017.

City spokesperson Bailey Stober called the loss of life “tragic,” but said the city did not admit any wrongdoing as a result of the settlement.

“Both those officers are still with Kent PD and returned to duty,” he said. “And that is because we had an independent investigation and a King County inquest jury was assembled, and found that the officers acted within Kent PD policies, they acted within state law, and they acted within the scope of authority granted to them.”

Kent officer Matthew Rausch pursued Joseph-McDade when he drove away from a traffic stop. Rausch then attempted a maneuver (known as a Pursuit Intervention Technique) to make Joseph-McDade lose control of the car.

Officer William Davis fired two rounds into the car, and said later it was barreling towards him. But experts hired by the family’s attorneys said the car was traveling at a low rate of speed and Davis fired at an angle because he was not in the car’s path.

When she cleared the case to proceed to trial in February, U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein said the evidence raised “serious disputes” with the city of Kent’s account.

Members of the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability said Thursday that Joseph’s story and testimony were instrumental in passing a series of new policing-related laws through both chambers; some are now before a conference committee to resolve any differences. They include new restrictions on police vehicle pursuits and shooting at moving vehicles, and requirements that deadly force only be used as a last resort.

“We have dismantled policies that don’t serve the community,” Joseph said.

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Craig Sims, the attorney for Joseph-McDade’s family, said, “As this lawsuit has come to an end, the questions turns to, where do we go from here in holding officers who crossed the line accountable?”

“This is not just a Black and brown people dilemma. This is a crisis for all men and women of goodwill in our communities,” Sims added. “What are you doing once you place a sign in your yard claiming ‘Black Lives Matter?' What are you doing after you post a ‘like’ on social media? We have to do more.”

Stober said the city of Kent will be engaged in bringing its police practices in line with the new state legislation. Kent Mayor Dana Ralph declined an interview request.

Two candidates running for office in Kent denounced the settlement as "insulting" to city residents. Mayoral candidate Dawn Bennett and city council candidate Cliff Cawthon issued a joint statement.

“If we continue down this path of no accountability, we are just going to keep putting price tags on bodies and force the people of Kent to foot the bill,” they said. “Giovonn Joseph-McDade was not a threat to anyone, yet we see countless incidents like this around the country where traffic stops escalate into fatal encounters.”

Cawthon added, “We should lead by example on public safety by creating a system that focuses on de-escalation, and bans Pursuit Intervention Techniques in our neighborhoods.”

Bennett said, “My own sister is a retired police officer, yet I still feel unsafe around law enforcement. It is incidents like this that cause people like me to feel unsafe and make the public question whether or not police are necessary in many situations we are currently putting them in.”