Man with faulty car light was killed by WA deputy, suit says. Family owed $3.5M
It’s been more than four years since 30-year-old Jenoah Donald was shot in the head by a Clark County, Washington, deputy after being pulled over for a faulty taillight, according to a wrongful death lawsuit.
Donald, a father of three, died in a hospital a week after the traffic stop that escalated with Deputy Sean Boyle using physical force on Feb. 4, 2021, the federal lawsuit says.
Now, within weeks of a jury trial, the case against Boyle and Clark County has been settled, according to a news release issued by the Donald family’s legal counsel, attorneys Mark Lindquist and Angus Lee.
Clark County will pay $3.5 million to Donald’s family, the attorneys said. The payout was approved by Clark County council members on May 14.
“Jenoah is missed,” Donald’s mother, Sue Zawacky, told McClatchy News on May 15. “This was about accountability.”
In February 2022, Zawacky filed the suit in Tacoma federal court against Boyle, Clark County, former sheriff Chuck Atkins, another deputy and 10 unnamed sheriff’s office employees. Atkins was later dismissed as a defendant.
Boyle is still a deputy with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff John Horch said in a statement provided to McClatchy News by public information officer Sgt. Chris Skidmore.
“We never want to see an incident that results in the loss of another person’s life, and any loss of life is tragic,” Horch said. “In this situation, deputies responded according to training and state law to protect themselves and others.”
The lawsuit argues Boyle used excessive force and brutality against Donald and Clark County is largely to blame. The filing accused the county of having a history of not properly training officers on non-lethal de-escalation methods.
Boyle was justified in his use of force, Horch said, based on the findings of an independent investigation and prosecutorial review.
To prove an officer was at fault in a criminal case versus a civil case, such as Zawacky’s lawsuit, there are major differences — something “the media sometimes misses,” Lindquist told McClatchy News.
“In a civil lawsuit, we only need to prove it’s more likely than not the defendant used excessive force,” Lindquist said. “In other words, just because an officer wasn’t charged with murder doesn’t mean the force used was justified.”
Before Boyle pulled Donald over, he saw him driving an older Mercedes-Benz sedan that Donald had been fixing up, according to the lawsuit. The deputy took notice of a brake light that wasn’t working.
Donald regularly bought old “clunker cars,” like the Mercedes to restore and resell, the lawsuit says. It was a hobby of his stemming from adolescence, when schoolwork wasn’t easy for him.
Donald, who was on the autism spectrum, had dyslexia and ADHD, according to the filing. He enjoyed working on mechanics, especially engines.
He carried his “talent for mechanical tinkering” into adulthood, the lawsuit says.
Autism manifests differently in people. For Donald, it made him “prone to withdrawal, especially when under stress,” Lindquist and Lee wrote in the complaint.
What happened during the traffic stop?
The lawsuit argued it was a pretextual stop when Donald was pulled over by Boyle. These stops are illegal in Washington, the filing notes.
The evening of Feb. 4, 2021, Boyle heard about “suspicious activity” near a known “drug house” over his radio, the complaint says. He then saw Donald in the area, and wrongly pursued him, according to the complaint.
After Donald pulled over for Boyle, two more deputies arrived, according to the lawsuit.
One of the deputies later said they thought they saw a weapon in Donald’s car, which was “cluttered” with items, the lawsuit says. Donald, however, was unarmed. The “weapon” turned out to be a screwdriver.
Boyle is accused of escalating the situation after Donald didn’t instantly get out of his car upon Boyle’s orders.
He tried to drag Donald out of the vehicle while another deputy “grabbed (his) jaw,” the complaint says.
Boyle then punched Donald in his nose, before trying to pull him out of the car a second time.
As Boyle struggled with Donald, who was described as passively resisting, the vehicle’s gear shifted, causing the car to move forward, the complaint says.
In reaction to the rolling car, Boyle fired two shots at Donald, the second of which struck Donald’s head, according to the complaint.
Donald remained unconscious until his death, the complaint says. Zawacky and her other son, Donald’s brother, visited him several times in the hospital before he died.
With the settlement, Lindquist said “our hope is that accountability will result in better training and more prudent use of deadly force going forward.”
Lindquist is representing another federal lawsuit against Clark County and a different deputy. The case was filed over the fatal shooting of off-duty Vancouver, Washington, police officer Donald Sahota, at his home in January 2022, McClatchy News reported.
Deputy Jonathan Feller’s pursuit of a robbery suspect led him to Sahota’s property, where Sahota had been struggling with the suspect in his driveway. Shortly after arriving, Feller, described as “trigger-happy,” shot Sahota from behind, killing him, according to the lawsuit.
Zawacky told McClatchy News she wants “to see changes in Clark County.”
She said she’s “thankful we now have body and dash cams” and for the community support she’s received.
Lee said the outcome of the settled case “honors Jenoah Donald’s life and underscores a simple truth: when officers ignore their training and resort to needless lethal force, they will be held accountable.”
“The family’s determination ensures their story will not be forgotten.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2025 at 9:17 AM with the headline "Man with faulty car light was killed by WA deputy, suit says. Family owed $3.5M."
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