A federal judge tossed a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Antifa killer Michael Reinoehl, who was fatally shot while being arrested for murdering a Trump supporter during fiery 2020 George Floyd protests.
The confessed killer, a 48-year-old dad, was shot when a federal task force finally tracked him down following a massive manhunt from him gunning down Patriot Prayer supporter Aaron “Jay” Danielson, 39, as he walked away from clashing protests in Portland, Oregon.
Reinoel’s family sued in 2023 claiming that the officers rushed to arrest him without a plan and used excessive force.
But the lawsuit was recently dismissed by District Judge David Estudillo, who denied that the hasty response by federal agents amounted to negligence, according to a ruling shared by the Seattle Times.
“This court’s role is not to decide if the … plan was a good plan, or a complete or thorough one,” the judge wrote in his ruling late last month, saying such “second-guessing” is not permitted by the law.
Instead, “it is clear that there was some plan to arrest Reinoehl and some command structure,” the judge wrote.
“To be clear, this is not meant as an endorsement of the (task force’s) planning for or execution of this operation.”
Reinoehl was caught on camera fatally shooting Danielson on Aug. 31, 2020, as he strolled with a pal on a quiet street after a Trump caravan counter-protested masked Antifa thugs invading Portland.
Reinoehl fled to Washington state, with a warrant issued on Sept. 3 — with President Trump calling on law enforcement to “do your job, and do it fast.”
A federal task force consisting of federal, state and local police tracked him down to a home in a residential neighborhood in Lacey, Washington the following day.
Reinoehl exited the house with a backpack officers believed may have contained a rifle and walked toward his car where he was ambushed by law enforcement, according to court documents reviewed by the Seattle Times.
Members of the task force pinned Reinoehl’s car against the curb with their own vehicle and believed they saw him “reaching for something,” prompting four members of the task force to open fire, shooting 37 rounds, striking him at least five times and killing him.
A handgun was recovered from Reinoehl’s pants pocket but was not loaded. A disassembled rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were found in his backpack.
The now-dismissed lawsuit was filed by Reinoehl’s family in July 2023. It claimed Marshals “either had no plan to arrest the man without injury, made no effort to follow such a plan, or planned to use deadly force from the start.”
In 2022, a judge dismissed a separate federal lawsuit filed against the city of Portland, the mayor and the Multnomah County district attorney by Danielson’s estate.
With Post Wires
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