Another Death at SCORE Jail, Officer In Deadly Collision Didn't Have Valid Washington Driver's License

Today's Afternoon Fizz.

1. Another person held in custody at the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) jail in Des Moines has died,  the King County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed. Lori Ann Renfroe, a 60-year-old woman, was booked into SCORE on May 9, and died in custody there on May 11. The cause of death is undetermined and under investigation by the King County Medical Examiner and King County Prosecutor’s Office. SCORE did not respond to requests for comment.

This is the sixth death in custody at SCORE since March 2023, and the second in two months. In May, PubliCola reported on the death of 21-year-old Makena Buckland of unknown causes. In March, we reported on the death of a woman who died at SCORE last year from malnutrition.  

LaRond Baker, legal director of the ACLU of Washington, said of the most recent death at SCORE, “It is imperative that the recent deaths are thoroughly investigated and that actions are taken to prevent future deaths in custody.”

Medical care at SCORE, which is owned and operated by six South King County cities, is contracted to Wellpath, the nation’s largest prison health care company, which has been the subject of Congressional hearings over concerns about substandard care. Wellpath did not respond to requests for comment.

The Seattle city attorney’s office is reportedly considering contracting with SCORE to house people arrested for low-level misdemeanors. The jail has interlocal agreements with 41 other municipalities across the region, some as far away as Bellingham. In September, King County ended a controversial agreement between the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (DAJD) and SCORE

According to documents obtained from the state Department of Licensing through a public records request, Seattle police officer Kevin Dave, who struck and killed 23-year-old pedestrian Jaahnavi Kandula in a crosswalk while driving 74 miles per hour, did not have a valid Washington State driver’s license at the time of the collision on January 23, 2023.

The documents indicate that Dave surrendered his Washington drivers license on November 18, 2021 because he “transferred out of state,” and took an Arizona driver's license instead. It’s unclear why Dave, who formerly worked for the Tucson Police Department, and had a troubled history there that resulted in his firing in 2013, would have sought to register as a driver in Arizona while working for SPD.

An official at the Department of Licensing who preferred not to be named confirmed that the documents indicate Dave did not have a valid Washington driver's license at the time of the collision.

Washington law says that drivers who move from another state must apply for a state license within 30 days. It is unclear if Kevin Dave ever moved back to Arizona during that time but it is clear he was driving with an Arizona license and had been for more than a year when he struck Kandula. Officer Dave was hired by SPD in November 2019.

SPD’s website for officer applicants notes that SPD’s policy is that “An applicant must have a valid Washington State Driver's License prior to being hired. It is understood that out of state candidates won't have this at time of application, but they must get one prior to accepting a job. Driving is an essential function of this position with SPD.”

Internal SPD emails previously obtained by PubliCola indicate that supervising officers were concerned about Dave’s past in Tucson, including a potential drunk driving incident that occurred shortly after he was fired. The King County prosecutor declined to file felony charges against Dave for Kandula’s killing, and in May Dave was found delinquent by the Seattle Municipal Court for failing to pay a $5,000 negligent driving ticket issued to him by the City Attorney’s office.

SPD’s communications department did not respond directly to questions about Dave’s license status but said it would forward the information PubliCola obtained “to OPA [the Office of Police Accountability] to include in the investigation.”

—Andy Engelson