Kennewick father killed by police had attacked before

A Kennewick man’s sword attack on an officer Sunday was not his first assault of a policeman.

Last October, Hussein D. Hassan bit Kennewick Officer James Canada during a car prowling investigation.

Canada and Officer Miguel Ayala were called to Hassan’s home on the 1700 block of West Sixth Avenue. The details are unclear from court documents, but they contacted Hassan and ended up starting to arrest him for obstruction.

In the struggle to arrest him, Hassan bit Canada’s thumb, breaking the skin.

Hassan, 46, was charged with assault, resisting arrest and and obstruction and was released when someone posted a $1,000 bond.

Court-appointed defense attorney Sam Swanberg asked for Eastern State Hospital doctors to evaluate Hassan’s ability to understand the proceedings and help in his defense.

But Hassan never showed up for his mental health evaluation on April 27 and a warrant was issued after he missed his May 3 court hearing in Benton County Superior Court.

On Sunday, witnesses called police when they saw Hassan walking along Olympia Street near 10th Avenue with a sword. Office Jason Kiel was the first to arrive. As he was getting out of his car, Hassan reportedly attacked, hitting him several times in the head, say investigators.

Kiel managed to get away as Officer Joshua Kuhn arrived. Both fired at Hassan and he died at the hospital.

One of his children, Mohamed Dahir, took to Facebook this week to claim police officers wouldn’t have shot his father if he was white.

“My dad is gone and just because he didn’t like the police, (and) only God knows the truth,” Dahir wrote.

Public records reveal little about the Kennewick father, who had worked in a potato processing plant in recent years.

Hassan claimed he was wrongly fired from ConAgra Lamb Weston after he fell in a freezer and had a back injury in 2013. He filed a small claims suit against his supervisor, claiming discrimination and workplace harassment because he is Muslim. He asked for $5,000.

His case, and a following appeal, were denied.

Court records also show he was living in Kennewick with his wife and had several children, ages 2 to 18.

The Tri-City Special Investigations Unit released no new information Wednesday on the shooting. An autopsy is planned Wednesday.

This story was originally published August 15, 2017 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Kennewick father killed by police had attacked before."