Michigan police shot and killed an unarmed white man after pursuing a van that had been reported to contain two Black men, one allegedly brandishing a gun.
Now, the family of the victim, John Jenuwine, has filed a federal lawsuit.
The incident took place on Jan. 6 after two people called 911 to report a white van driving erratically. One caller described the occupants as “two Black guys” and claimed one had brandished a gun at his wife.
“There’s two Black guys,” the caller said. “I see two Black guys — or two guys in the vehicle … with a handgun.”
Officers from the Ypsilanti Police Department and the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office later spotted a white van driven by Jenuwine and began following it, believing it matched the description.
For reasons that remain unclear, Jenuwine sped off. It prompted a pursuit that lasted more than six minutes before his van overturned. Officers then fired 27 rounds, striking him seven times.
“He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!” one officer is heard shouting before shots were fired.
After the shooting, officers allegedly allowed him to bleed to death without providing aid, telling one another that Jenuwine was armed with a shotgun.
Even after realizing he was unarmed, a Washtenaw County sheriff’s deputy told his parents the following day that their son had died after exchanging gunfire with police.
“We were told that there was an exchange of gunfire, and that John was killed,” his father, Larry Jenuwine, told The Intercept.
“Call it naïveté or whatever you want to call it, but our first thoughts were, ‘Oh my God, what did he do? Why did he cause this?”
Watch video of the pursuit and shooting below.
‘They Waited for (Him) to Die’
The initial 911 call came in at 1:24 a.m., reporting a white van driving erratically without headlights or a license plate.
A second call at 1:30 a.m. reported that the van was occupied by two Black men, one of whom had brandished a gun.
Dispatch relayed that information to officers, who later spotted Jenuwine’s van at 1:53 a.m.
“We’re behind him. Looks like a Nissan Transit van,” one officer reported.
But within a minute, an officer radioed that the driver was a “white male … yelling out the window.” That detail was repeated at least four more times over the next several minutes.
“At approximately 2:01 a.m., a white van traveling in the opposite direction of John Jenuwine and the police pursuit appears in the dashcam footage,” the lawsuit states.
“There was no attempt by any responding law enforcement to investigate this other white van, despite it being clear that John Jenuwine was not ‘two Black guys’ and had shown no signs of a gun or any weapon,” the complaint continues.
Deputies attempted to stop Jenuwine using a PIT maneuver, which caused his airbags to deploy, but he continued driving. A second PIT maneuver caused the van to overturn.
No gun was found in the vehicle. Despite this, deputies repeatedly claimed he was armed with a shotgun and fired 27 rounds. According to the lawsuit, they continued making that claim as he lay bleeding, refusing to render aid.
“Despite observing John Jenuwine was still alive, deputies did not call for medical aid. Instead, they waited for John Jenuwine to die,” the lawsuit alleges.
‘The Cruelty of It’
The lawsuit was filed in federal court on June 10 by Michigan attorney Todd F. Flood. It names the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, deputies Jacob Gombos and Jonathan Earley, and several unidentified officers as defendants.
The complaint alleges excessive and deadly force, failure to intervene after realizing Jenuwine did not match the suspect description, and gross negligence.
In a separate case, a former deputy filed a lawsuit earlier this month alleging she was fired for blowing the whistle on Sheriff Alyshia Dyer for hiring unqualified deputies.
The Jenuwine shooting was investigated by Michigan State Police, which has turned its findings over to the Michigan Department of Attorney General, which will decide whether criminal charges are warranted.
Jenuwine’s parents, Larry and Kelly, told The Intercept they once respected police but no longer do.
“They ran around with those guns like they were playing video games, guns held sideways,” Larry said. “I’m still struggling with this, and I anticipate that’s going to be a continuing struggle.”
An attorney representing the family said Jenuwine might have survived had officers rendered aid instead of allowing him to bleed out for several minutes.
“The cruelty of it is what strikes me the most,” attorney Maura Battersby said. “If aid had been rendered, he may have survived.”
Jenuwine would have turned 35 last month. His parents marked the occasion, grieving over a birthday cake.
“Those officers get to go home to their families every night,” Kelly said. “What Larry and I get is a box of ashes and a lock of my son’s hair.”
