On Monday, a silver SUV carrying a Washington family careened 100 feet off a cliff near Mendocino, California into the Pacific Ocean. Five of the family members, including both parents, died in the crash, which left their car stuck upside down on the partially submerged rocks below. Three of the children remain missing—including 15-year-old Devonte Hart.
If that name rings a bell, it’s because Devonte was the star of a wildly controversial photo snapped during a 2014 Portland rally protesting the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a white cop in Ferguson, Missouri. Photographer Johnny Nguyen (freelancing for the Oregonian) captured Devonte tearfully hugging Portland police Sergeant Bret Barnum. The photo of Barnum, a white officer in riot gear, and Devonte, a Black boy wearing a blue fedora, caught fire online—especially since it was taken at an event that amplified the fraught relations between white cops and the African American community.
Devonte and two of his teenage sisters haven’t been found near the crash site, and authorities continue to search the ocean and surrounding shoreline for hints of their whereabouts. As for now, we’ve only heard speculation from neighbors and family friends about what caused the crash, and are waiting for a definitive report from local police.
There are disturbing reports of child abuse incidents when this family lived in Minnesota (two white women adopting non-white children and abusing them). I wonder if this was a family annihilation situation (unusual for women, but not unheard of).