Police Brutality / Individual record
Dewayne Deshawn Ward Jr.
Dewayne Deshawn Ward Jr., 29, was fatally shot by a Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy on February 3, 2015 at his mother's Antioch home while experiencing serious mental-health difficulties.
- Record ID
- PB-095
- Incident date
- February 3, 2015
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Antioch, CA
- Agency
- Contra Costa Sheriff's Office
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 29
What happened
Deputy Scott Pliler arrived at the Antioch, California home of Dewayne Deshawn Ward Jr. on February 3, 2015 to serve a restraining order and related papers obtained by Ward's mother, Yolanda Dozier. The sheriff's office alleged that Ward rushed Pliler while holding a knife, prompting the deputy to shoot him. Ward, 29, died at the scene. His mother publicly criticized how authorities handled the situation, explaining that her son had schizophrenia and needed medical assistance, not a fatal encounter. Other residents described Ward as having struggled with mental-health problems and long periods of isolation. The family's perspective and the sheriff's version must remain distinct: the official report of a knife confrontation does not alone settle whether police could have used a different approach to a known crisis. A sheriff's and district attorney's investigation and a coroner's inquest were announced.
Investigation & findings
Sheriff's and district attorney's investigations and a coroner's inquest were reported in February 2015. This pass did not verify a final criminal disposition.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 119
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- knife
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 204
Last reviewed: October 25, 2026
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset
- Fatal Force methodology and data limitationsThe Washington Post · Methodology