McKenna, a 37-year old woman, was being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center by the Fairfax County Police Department and Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office in Fairfax County, Virginia, due to an outstanding warrant issued over her suspected attack on a police officer. After initially cooperating with officials, there was a week-long delay in transporting McKenna back to Alexandria, where better assistance could be provided, namely, the resources (i.e., legal representation to petition for a mental health hold) that were required to be provided by the warrant-issuing city. Due to the previous assault charge against her, she was restrained with handcuffs, arms behind her back, her legs shackled, and with a spit mask placed over her head. 17 minutes into the 45 minute struggle to extract her from her cell, McKenna, who was 130 lb (59 kg) and 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) tall, was tasered. A sheriff’s deputy used a stun gun to taser her four times because she wouldn’t bend her knees to be put into a wheeled restraint chair.[The specialized team that was called in to address her condition was attempting to ready her for transport to Alexandria, Virginia. The team was made up of six members of the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team (“SERT”) and was dressed in full-body biohazard suits and gas masks. Shortly after being tasered, McKenna suffered cardiac arrest and lost consciousness, but was resuscitated on the way to Inova Fairfax Hospital by emergency responders, was placed on life support, but was determined to be brain dead and was removed from life support after five days. She was pronounced dead on February 8, 2015.
Funeral for Justice 