Wallace Tremaine Howell
Portrait of Tremaine, obtained from his Facebook.
Wallace Tremaine Howell died on June 15th, 2020 at the age of 38 after being tased multiple times at the Ector County Jail. Known by his middle name to his friends and family, Tremaine was a loving partner to his fiancée Catherine and a devoted father to his children Precious, Tymodreius, Tramaile, Sharmaine, and Trenice, who cherish his memory and will miss him dearly.
Tremaine grew up in Midland, Texas and studied to become an HVAC technician at Midland College. A plumber by trade, Tremaine loved working with nuts and bolts and making restorations on his family farm. Tremaine had an infectious sense of humor and a penchant for adventure. At a vigil for Tremaine, his cousin Thomas recalled how they had spent hours of their childhood doing backflips together on his uncle’s trampoline. When Tremaine got hurt falling off the trampoline, he didn’t tell his uncle about the fall, because he didn’t want the trampoline to be taken away.
Photograph of a protest march following Tremaine’s vigil, by way of Odessa American.
After being taken into custody after midnight on June 15th, Tremaine was tased, pepper sprayed, and placed in a padded cell after an altercation with another incarcerated individual. He was found unconscious in his cell a few hours later, and by the time the sun came up, he had passed away. An autopsy revealed he had several puncture marks on his chest from being tased six times in the span of two minutes.
Although jail employees were cleared of responsibility following an official investigation, it remains unclear whether their brutal and dehumanizing treatment of Tremaine was a contributing factor to his death. According to a 2012 Amnesty International report, over 500 individuals have died since 2001 after being tased by law enforcement, with tasers listed as a direct cause of death in more than 60 of these cases. Scientific studies have determined that the risk of adverse effects is heightened in individuals whose circulatory systems are compromised at the time of being shocked.
“[Tremaine] had an upbringing just like you had an upbringing. He had kids, kids that he loved. He had parents that loved him, cousins that loved him, brothers that loved him,” said Thomas. “Tremaine’s life mattered.”
We join Tremaine’s family in honoring his life and mourning his loss. May his memory live on in our hearts.
