In Memory Of: Black Women Who Died Unjustly

Kendra James

Kendra James, an African American mother of two, was wanted on a warrant for failing to appear in court in Portland in 2003. During a routine traffic stop, Officer Rick Bean, who pulled the car over, told Kendra he recognized her while  attempting to identify the rental car’s driver and called for backup. Officer Kenneth Reynolds and Scott McCollister helped take both the driver, Terry Jackson, and the front seat passenger, Darnell White, into custody, leaving 115-pound, 5-foot-2 Kendra alone in the back seat.

Kendra jumped into the  front seat and, according to the police, tried to drive away. McCollister tried grabbing her hair and pepper spraying her but could not operate the canister so fired one shot. The bullet hit Kendra James in the hip, traveled up to her  lower rib cage, and killed her. The officers pulled James out and handcuffed her, which is standard procedure; however, they left  her lying unattended while they set up a crime scene perimeter, rather than staying with her until  paramedics arrived. The police did not check her vital signs, Reynolds said, because he thought she  was “faking” being unconscious and did not know she had been shot. She died four hours later.