Kevin Peterson wrongful death lawsuit against Clark County will move forward

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A federal judge Thursday denied Clark County’s motion to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Kevin Peterson Jr., a 21-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies during a drug sting in October 2020.

The trial is scheduled for Oct. 30 in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Peterson’s mother, father and girlfriend, with whom he shared a child, are listed as the plaintiffs.

The complaint alleges wrongful death, negligence, excessive force and brutality, unreasonable seizure and deprivation of familial relationships in Peterson’s Oct. 29, 2020, death. The lawsuit targets the county as well as sheriff’s Detective Robert Anderson, whom the complaint says fired the first shot at Peterson; Deputy Jonathan Feller, who also shot at Peterson; and former Sheriff Chuck Atkins and others, whom the suit alleges were negligent in Peterson’s slaying.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein denied the county’s summary judgment motion to dismiss all five causes of action in the case. She also denied Peterson’s family’s motion that the judge, not a jury, rule on the excessive force claim against Anderson.

Attorneys Mark Lindquist and Angus Lee, who represent the plaintiffs, said the family was grateful for the judge’s ruling.

“They want justice for their son and for the community,” Lindquist said in a news release. “They trust jurors will do the right thing. Clark County, unfortunately, has not.”

Three deputies fatally shot Peterson as he ran, armed with a handgun, from the scene of a planned sale of 50 Xanax pills. The shooting occurred shortly before 6 p.m. in the parking lot of a shuttered U.S. Bank branch, 6829 N.E. Highway 99, adjacent to the Quality Inn where the drug sale was supposed to take place.

In August 2021, an outside prosecutor’s office tasked with reviewing the shooting found Anderson, Feller and Detective Jeremy Brown had acted in “good faith,” meaning a similarly situated law enforcement officer would have also used deadly force under the circumstances. (Brown was shot and killed during a July 23, 2021, stakeout of three suspects in a gun trafficking investigation.)

However, the investigators’ report and the family’s lawsuit differ in their accounts of what happened.

Investigators concluded Peterson had committed conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance and attempted assault on law enforcement when he pointed a loaded Glock 23 .40-caliber pistol at pursuing deputies.

The lawsuit contends Peterson did not point the gun at pursuing deputies, and the object seen in his hand was actually a cellphone; he was using FaceTime with his girlfriend during the incident.

In all, the deputies fired 34 rounds at Peterson, striking him four times. He died at the scene. He was shot twice in the chest, once in the left arm and once in the left shoulder. Two of the wounds were “through and through,” meaning the injury was caused by a bullet entering the body and exiting, according to preliminary autopsy findings.

The complaint states Peterson was shot in the back while running away and the fourth shot was to his chest after he fell to the ground and was trying to sit up.