Black, Indigenous Family Files Lawsuit After Wrongful Arrest and Wrongful Enforcement of DV Protection Order
Like many couples during the pandemic, Dontey and Rachel Watkins saw a strain in their marriage.
But a wrongful arrest by the Olympia Police Department in November 2020 and a subsequent six months of criminal litigation made their lives hell, a federal civil rights lawsuit filed last week in the Western District of Washington alleges.
The couple of 16 years and their three young boys — who all identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) — lived in low-income housing while their mom studied to be a nurse and their father, a barber by trade, worked for a staffing agency, the Watkins’ lawsuit says.
In October 2020, Rachel Watkins sought a domestic violence protection order against her husband to get him connected to social services, according to the lawsuit.
