Search fatalities

Dante Day

Age : 44

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 08/15/2023

Location : Sacramento City College light-rail station, 3801 24th Street

City : Sacramento

County : Sacramento

State : California

Agency : Sacramento Police Department

Officer(s) :Keegan Hironaka, Kevin Lucas, David Daus and Daniel Bartlett

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police while carrying a knife

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/15/2023, shortly after 5:00 p.m., Sacramento police received several emergency calls reporting that a man was carrying and waving a large knife inside a Sacramento Regional Transit light-rail train stopped at the Sacramento City College station at 3801 24th Street, near Hughes Stadium. Police identified the man as 44-year-old Dante Dwaine Day.
Sacramento police officers Keegan Hironaka, Kevin Lucas, David Daus and Daniel Bartlett arrived at approximately 5:15 p.m. Their body cameras were activated. The encounter occurred inside Regional Transit train No. 109. Two train surveillance cameras also recorded the confrontation. Hironaka and Lucas ultimately fired the fatal gunshots; Daus and Bartlett were present but did not fire their handguns.
Police entered the train and found Day sitting near another passenger. Officers moved that passenger out of the train. Hironaka stood approximately 15 to 20 feet from Day and spoke with him while Lucas carried a shotgun loaded with beanbag ammunition. Police initially did not see a knife, but Day removed a fixed-blade hunting knife from his waistband and held it in his right hand. Investigators measured the blade at approximately seven inches.
The video recorded Day in severe emotional distress. He repeatedly begged police to kill him and said that he could not put down the knife. A family member later told investigators that Day had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. His statements and conduct indicated that police were confronting a person experiencing a mental-health crisis and expressing an immediate desire to die.
Hironaka told Day that police wanted to help him and repeatedly ordered him to put down the knife. Day struck a train window with the handle of the knife. Hironaka instructed Lucas to fire the beanbag shotgun if Day stood up. When Day rose from his seat, Lucas fired three beanbag rounds into Day’s torso from approximately 10 to 12 feet away. The impacts knocked Day backward onto the train bench.
Day then got up and moved rapidly toward the officers while holding the knife. Hironaka fired seven rounds from a personally owned Glock 34 handgun. Day fell to the train floor but remained conscious, continued screaming and returned toward the area where he had originally been sitting. He still held the knife.
Day stood again and began moving forward. Lucas put down the beanbag shotgun, drew his Glock 17 handgun and fired six additional rounds. In total, Hironaka and Lucas fired 13 bullets after Lucas had already struck Day with three beanbag rounds. Police waited while a shield team formed, then approached Day, removed the knife and began medical treatment. Sacramento Fire Department personnel pronounced him dead at approximately 5:47 p.m.
The autopsy documented ten gunshot wounds: three to the chest, one to the head, one to the abdomen, three to the back, one to the left leg and one to the left pelvis. The pathologist determined that gunshot wounds to Day’s chest and head caused his death. Toxicology testing detected methamphetamine, amphetamine and a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.029 percent.
Sacramento police publicly released edited body-camera and train-surveillance footage approximately two weeks after the killing. The released video showed the officers’ conversation with Day, Lucas firing beanbag rounds and Hironaka and Lucas firing their handguns. All four responding officers had activated body cameras, and investigators also reviewed footage from two cameras inside the train.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office completed its criminal review on 12/04/2024. Prosecutors identified Hironaka and Lucas by name and concluded that both shootings were legally justified. The district attorney filed no criminal charges against either officer. The review relied on police reports, dispatch recordings, witness interviews, body-camera footage, train surveillance video, photographs, forensic evidence and the autopsy.
Day’s father, Derick Day, filed a federal civil-rights and wrongful-death lawsuit against the City of Sacramento. The complaint argued that police failed to use adequate crisis-intervention and de-escalation measures and unnecessarily escalated an encounter with a man experiencing a mental-health emergency. The lawsuit originally used placeholder names because Sacramento police had not publicly identified the shooters. Court proceedings later established that the officers were Keegan Hironaka and Kevin Lucas, and the court authorized the family to add both men as defendants.
The city and Day’s family reached a settlement in 2025. The City of Sacramento agreed to pay Derick Day $160,000. Court records show that the parties executed the settlement agreement by 12/08/2025 and that the city was processing the payment in December 2025. The settlement resolved the federal case without a trial or finding that Hironaka or Lucas violated Day’s rights.
No public record reviewed through 08/04/2026 establishes that Sacramento police fired, suspended, criminally charged or decertified Hironaka or Lucas over Day’s killing. The district attorney cleared them criminally, while the city later paid $160,000 to resolve the family’s civil claims.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article278289683.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/police-shoot-suspect-near-sacramento-city-college/
https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-police-deadly-shooting-on-train-video/44955221
https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/police-release-footage-of-deadly-shooting-of-knife-wielding-suspect-at-sacramento-city-college/
https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-lawsuit-police-officer-shooting/60552103
https://www.sacda.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Day-SPD-OIS-Letter-AVS-TT-MB-ST.pdf
https://www.sacda.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/DANTE-DAY_Redacted.pdf
https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/california/caedce/2%3A2024cv01151/444905/19/0.pdf
https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/caedce/2%3A2024cv01151/444905/31/0.pdf