Family of Man Fatally Shot by Pleasanton Police Last Summer Files Suit

PLEASANTON, CA: The family of a 19-year-old man shot and killed by a Pleasanton police officer during a confrontation at an auto dealership last summer filed a lawsuit against the officer and the department on Monday. The lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court seeks unspecified damages for the death of John Deming Jr., a recent high school graduate and son of an Oakdale reserve police officer, early in the morning on July 5, 2015.

Police encountered Deming at Specialty Sales Classics at 4321 First St., a dealership specializing in vintage cars, at about 2 a.m. He was inside the dealership acting erratically, at one point throwing a floor jack through a window at arriving officers. The officers fired beanbags at him and released a dog into the store, sending Deming running out the back.

Officer Daniel Kunkel was waiting in the back and confronted Deming as he came out. Police said Deming shrugged off a shock from Kunkel's Taser then turned and attacked him, knocking him to the ground and pummeling him in the head. Kunkel again tried to use his Taser but when it wasn't effective, he shot Deming three times. Deming died at a hospital.

The family's lawsuit seeks to portray both men as mentally unstable, Kunkel because of his military tour in Iraq and Deming because he was moving to his father's home in Oakdale to start a new job there. Attorneys for Deming's parents, John Deming Sr. and Linda Stasi, argue the evidence suggests Kunkel's story is a lie. According to the lawsuit, Kunkel had recently left a job as an Antioch police officer, filing a lawsuit against the department because of emotional stress. He is described as "emotionally unstable" and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from serving as a tank machine-gunner in Iraq.

"Officer Kunkel should not have been patrolling the streets and he especially should not have been handling a weapon in the city of Pleasanton or anywhere," attorneys with the law firm Geragos & Geragos wrote in the lawsuit. Meanwhile, Deming was troubled that he was potentially leaving behind his dream of becoming a musician and going to live with his father in Oakdale and start a new job there, the attorneys wrote. He had left his mother's San Jose home to drive there and apparently stopped in Pleasanton along the way.

The Alameda County Fairgrounds, not far from the auto dealership, had a fireworks display for the Fourth of July the previous night, and it's possible Deming had stopped in Pleasanton for them. His behavior at 2 a.m. led at least one officer to observe that it appeared he was having a mental health crisis. But the confrontation escalated quickly and within a few minutes of police arriving, Deming had been shot.

Police had suspected Deming might have been on some kind of drug that caused psychotic behavior and searched his mother's home for any indication of that, according to a warrant released by the family's attorneys. An autopsy found that there were no drugs in his system. The lawsuit argues that no gunpowder residue was found on Deming's body, contradicting Kunkel's statement that he had shot Deming at close range. Kunkel's story can't be corroborated by body camera footage because he did not activate the camera prior to encountering Deming. In statements to the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, which cleared Kunkel of criminal charges in February, Kunkel said that he didn't turn on his body camera because he said it often doesn't work right and he thinks it's a distraction and a safety issue.

In the lawsuit, the attorneys wrote, "Officer Kunkel's convenient and suspicious failure to active his bodycam, as required by Department protocol, is all the more alarming given that none of the forensic and scientific evidence of the murder of John Jr. match with Officer Kunkel's version of events."

The family is seeking unspecified damages for wrongful death, excessive force, deprivation of familial relationship and systemic failures in the department, including in allowing officers to neglect body cameras, not responding properly to Deming's state of distress and holding Deming's mother at gunpoint and then handcuffing her while they searched her home, not informing her that her son was dead until two hours later.

Pleasanton city officials were not immediately available for comment.

Previous:

• No Criminal Charges For Pleasanton Officer Who Shot, Killed Man In Car Dealership
• Burglary Suspect Fatally Shot by Police Was Not on Drugs or Alcohol
• Listen to 911 Tape: Officer Involved in Fatal Shooting Was Knocked Out
• Parents of Teen Killed During Altercation with Pleasanton Police File Wrongful Death Claim
• Man Shot, Killed by Pleasanton Police Identified as Reserve Police Officer’s Son
• Burglary Suspect Fatally Shot by Pleasanton Police Was San Jose Man
• Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting Closes Portions of First Street in Pleasanton
• Police: Officer Involved in Fatal Shooting Sunday Found Unresponsive After Shooting

By Bay City News

--Photos of Deming via Geragos & Geragos/ crime scene photo Jordan Ginn