Last Friday in Columbus Ohio, Donna Castleberry Dalton, a 23-year old woman and mother of two was shot and killed by an undercover police officer after he forced her into his car and attempted to arrest her during a “prostitution sting.”

Dalton’s friends and family are challenging the official police narrative of events. CPD Officer Andrew Mitchell is claiming he shot Donna Dalton 8 times in self-defense after she stabbed him in the hand during the attempted arrest. But the fact Dalton was not handcuffed at the time of the murder suggests to her friends and family that she may have been defending herself from sexual assault by Mitchell. Mitchell’s unmarked police car was pinned against the side of a building, which would have trapped Dalton and made it difficult for her to escape. Police say that Mitchell and Dalton had a “conversation” in the police car, but are refusing to give more information.

Andrew Mitchell has a history of violence: as a Cincinnati police officer, he murdered a man named David “Bones” Herbert in 2011 and shot a teenager in the back of the head with a Taser in 2008. At the time he murdered Donna Dalton, he was under another internal affairs investigation.

But the problem is much bigger than Mitchell. Police officers regularly rape, harass and murder sex workers because they know that the criminalization of sex work will keep their victims silent.

According to one study, 14% of NYC sex workers experienced violence from police, including sexual assault, theft, and physical assault. Black and brown women sex workers, particularly those that are poor, immigrant, or trans, bear the brunt of police violence and harassment. Police officers regularly profile and arrest black and brown trans women for the crime of “walking while trans,” and 64.1% of trans sex workers reported being harassed or mistreated by the police.

Attempting to fight back against police violence and harassment can put sex workers at even greater risk. In November 2017, NYPD tried to arrest Yang Song, a 38-year-old Chinese woman, for engaging in prostitution, causing her to fall to her death from her apartment window. Her family believe the raid was retaliation: Yang had filed a complaint after a police officer raped and blackmailed her. In June of 2018, the Queens DA cleared the NYPD of any responsibility for her death, and made a statement that “prostitution is a degrading and humiliating industry.”

The disdain and disregard for the lives of sex workers in the legal system–and the broader culture–enables police to target sex workers and excuse violence against them as inevitable or deserved. In one of the most egregious examples, Daniel Holtzclaw, the Oklahoma City police officer who raped at least 13 poor black women, selected victims who were sex workers. Last year, NYPD cops caught raping a teenager they had arrested attempted to undermine their victim’s credibility by suggesting she had offered to trade sex.

While it’s not clear if, or how, Donna Dalton was affected by FOSTA-SESTA, recently passed legislation that severely limited sex workers’ ability to advertise or organize online, her death is a reminder of the importance of listening to sex workers concerns about their increased vulnerability to police violence in the wake of FOSTA-SESTA.

No matter how anti-sex work ‘feminists’ dress it up as “concern for vulnerable women,” anyone who supports the criminalization of sex work is supporting police having license to abuse and kill people like Donna Dalton, and the countless other people whose stories we will never know.

Dalton’s family is raising money for her children and funeral expenses, which you can support here. Her community continues to rally for answers and justice.

Image credit: Katie Forbes