Olympia to commission a review of OPD’s investigation into Yvonne McDonald’s death
The City of Olympia plans to hire an outside investigator in the next 30 days to go over the investigation conducted by the Olympia Police Department into the 2018 death of Yvonne McDonald, according to City Manager Jay Burney.
Burney made the announcement Tuesday at the start of the Olympia City Council meeting. His prepared remarks read in part: “If there is the slightest chance that an outside investigator might be able to find a new pathway that could lead to some resolution of what happened to Ms. McDonald, then that is a chance the City of Olympia is open to taking.”
McDonald, a 56-year-old Black woman, was spotted by a city street sweeper the morning of Aug. 7, 2018 on the ground outside a west Olympia home a few blocks from her apartment. Officers responded and found her in a state of undress and unresponsive, so they administered Narcan in case she had overdosed on opioids, according to the police report. McDonald died that evening at a local hospital.
Local protests against police brutality and systematic racism have included calls for renewed attention to McDonald’s case.
The investigation is not in response to concerns about misconduct or errors committed by the police department, Burney said, repeating his belief that OPD exhausted all leads and thoroughly examined all of the available evidence. He said his goal is to bring a fresh set of eyes to the case in hopes they might identify new leads or otherwise bring the case to a more definitive resolution
“I’m hoping that no matter what the outside investigation brings, that it brings a sense of closure for our concerned community and some long-sought peace for her sisters,” Burney said.
Some members of McDonald’s family have been critical of the investigation by OPD, which remains open despite police finding no evidence of foul play nor identifying any suspects in their report. The Thurston County coroner could not determine a manner of death, according to the police report, ruling the abdominal injury that caused her death was consistent with a fall, but that the possibility McDonald was assaulted could not be ruled out.
McDonald’s niece, Taulana Reed, has sued Thurston County for a copy of the autopsy records that were only provided to McDonald’s three surviving sisters. The lawsuit was moved to Lewis County, where demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse during a hearing on June 12.
Burney told The Olympian that he spoke to each of the three sisters about opening an independent review of the OPD investigation, and that all three voiced their support. Olympia Police Lt. Paul Lower said Tuesday night that he needed to consult with Police Chief Aaron Jelcick before commenting, though Burney told The Olympian that Jelcick was on board.
At the request of McDonald’s sisters, all communications about the outside investigation by the city will go through them before anything is released to the general public. In addition, Burney said, the completed outside investigation will first be made available to the sisters and not released by the city to the general public, though members of the public could request a copy by submitting a public disclosure request to the city.
In the meantime, the city will soon be publishing all materials from the original investigation file that would be available via a records request on the Police Accountability and Transparency section of the City of Olympia website.
This story was originally published August 25, 2020 at 9:51 PM.