A Deaf, 29-year-old man was shot and killed by a police officer in Danville, Kentucky on the night of January 11. His name was Cody Downey.

I will explain what local news report and the Danville Police Department said, but I have to warn that it can be distressing.

News reports said police received a 911 call that there was a suicidal male armed with a knife at an apartment. The caller said the male was harming himself and had sent her pictures of his injuries. The caller told police that the man is deaf.

Officers went to the apartment. Danville Police said they breached the door and as they were standing outside the apartment, they were able to contact Downey and gave him numerous commands to drop the knife. Officers said Downey then exited the apartment and charged at them while holding the knife, knocking an officer down. An officer then shot Downey in the chest. Downey was transported to a hospital and then died.

The officer who shot Downey has been placed on administrative leave. Danville’s Police Chief said that officer is a 10-year law enforcement veteran. The Kentucky State Police Critical Response Team are investigating, which is standard procedure.

Downey’s sister, Kisha Darnell, told news outlets that she believes he would have listened to officers’ commands if he could hear them. She said there was no ASL interpreter at the scene. She pointed out that Danville has a big Deaf community and she found it hard to believe that police didn’t consider bringing an interpreter or having some kind of protocol in place to respond to a deaf person.

WKYT News said they’ve made open records requests for the 911 call and body camera footage of the incident. Downey’s family said they have received very little updates from authorities and want to get transparency.

On social media, there are many posts under the hashtag #JusticeForCody. Some posts criticized Danville Police for not ensuring that Downey’s ADA rights were protected and making sure that their commands could be understood. Some posts expressed shock and said they knew Downey from the Kentucky School for the Deaf community. Others said police shouldn’t be called for a mental health crisis, especially when the person is deaf.

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