The family of John Jenuwine - the 34 year old veteran shot and killed by police has filed an amended lawsuit claiming excessive force on the part of Washtenaw County police.
In newly released body camera footage shared by the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office , John Jenuwine, a six year veteran, is heard repeatedly pleading for help before he died. This followed a police chase where Jenuwine attempted to evade police before his van tipped-over and deputies shot 34 rounds of ammunition into it. At the time deputies indicated he had a gun, which had been negated by a deputy in an earlier encounter and ultimately proved false.
Maura Battersby with Flood Law says as Jenuwine lay dying from 7 shots he sustained to his body, he could audibly be heard shouting for help in response to officers commands to signal if he needed medical attention.
"That includes the Ann Arbor Police Department officer who was doing the work over the loud speaker and saying, if you need medical help, raise your leg. If you need help, move your arm. If you can't move your army, all those kinds of things. And what we learned is that every time they gave John Genuine something to do to signal that he needed medical attention, he did that thing. And then they said, oh no, that wasn't in response to the command and then continued to let him just bleed out and die."
The amended lawsuit names eight officers in the lawsuit and includes three additional complaints: deliberate indifference to medical need, supervisory liability, assault and battery.
"You go through this entire process and you let him die by failing to understand or deliberately not understanding that he was properly responding to you. And then an hour and a half after he has already died, you're now just like poking at his body. So they just treated him like he was not a human."
Battersby says in original calls made to 9-11 it was stated that the suspects were two black men in a white van, one of whom allegedly was waving a gun. Deputies subsequently encountered Jenuwine, who was white, unarmed and driving a white van.
The case remains under review by the Michigan Attorney General's office.
