Attorneys representing the estate of John Jenuwine, a 34-year-old Navy veteran shot and killed by Washtenaw County sheriff deputies in January, have broadened their lawsuit against the county, adding six additional officers as defendants.
The expanded filing came earlier this month after attorneys reviewed over 250 gigabytes of newly obtained footage from the Michigan State Police, which they say reveals a different version of events than the initial narrative released by local authorities.
"When we filed the original complaint, the only video and perspective that we had was what the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office put out in its press conference almost immediately following their execution of my client," said Maura Battersby, senior attorney at Flood Law. "And it was edited."
Newly obtained footage includes dashcam and bodycam video from the officers who opened fire, Battersby said.
"We were really able to fill in a lot more of the facts to kind of get a better idea of what occurred," she said.
A major focus of the amended suit centers on the 20 minutes following what the family's attorneys say were about 34 bullets fired at Jenuwine's van, seven of which hit him. Body camera footage appears to capture Jenuwine moving, kicking, and shouting for help while inside the tipped van, the family's attorneys said.
Officers instructed Jenuwine over loudspeakers to perform physical tasks to show he needed help, only to mischaracterize his movements, the lawsuit alleges.
"[Deputies] saying, 'if you need medical attention, raise your left leg,'" Battersby said, "and then John raises his left leg and you hear the deputies then saying like, well, 'remember, he has a gun' and reporting falsely that that his moves were not intentional," Battersby said.
The expanded lawsuit says ambulances "were minutes away," but deputies prevented them from approaching the vehicle, citing an unsecured scene.
"They weren't really trying to get him the medical attention that he needed and the medical attention that they were required to provide under the constitution," Battersby said.
The lawsuit argues officers disregarded their duties under the Fourth and 14th amendments.
According to the amended lawsuit, it all started at 1:24 a.m. on January 6, 2026, when a 911 caller in the Ypsilanti area reported a white van driving erratically.
Moments later, another caller said a white van had been following his wife and that “they just waved a gun at my wife.” When asked by dispatchers if he had seen who was in the van, the man said, “It’s two black guys, I think it’s two black guys, two guys in the vehicle.”
The first amended complaint says deputies encountered Jenuwine's white van around 1:53 a.m. and saw his headlights were off. Officers then pursued the van, which the lawsuit describes as a pursuit for traffic offenses, even though deputies quickly determined the driver was a white man traveling alone, not the two Black men described in the original 911 broadcast.
The lawsuit then describes Washtenaw County deputies ramming Jenuwine's van for the second time causing the van to overturn and causing the airbags to deploy.
Once the van was immobilized, the lawsuit says deputies rushed to Jenuwine's van, ordering him to show them his hands and then began shooting under the belief that he had a gun.
No gun was recovered from the scene.
The amended complaint adds six new defendants, Deputies Jacob Cuso, Von Heath, Gabriel Bechtol, and Bryan Tripp, along with Sergeants Thomas Pennington and Samuel Wallace.
The filing also introduces three new legal counts: deliberate indifference to medical needs, supervisory liability against the sergeants, and state-law assault and battery.
Washtenaw County declined to comment on the specific allegations in the updated lawsuit, stating it is aware of the filing and will address the claims through appropriate legal channels.
