AURORA, Colo. — The family of Kilyn Lewis, an unarmed Black man who was shot and killed by police last year, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Aurora and the officer who shot him.
Lewis, 37, was ambushed by members of Aurora’s SWAT team who tried to arrest him on an attempted first-degree murder warrant from Denver.
Bodycam video from the shooting shows officers driving up to Lewis at the parking lot of an apartment complex before he was surrounded and ordered to get on the ground. Less than 10 seconds later, SWAT Officer Michael Dieck fired one shot after Lewis was seen moving one of his hands out of view to grab an object. That object was later determined to be a cellphone.
The lawsuit alleges Lewis was given “conflicting commands,” which included simultaneous orders to get on the ground and show his hands.
It further alleges that Dieck did not issue any verbal warning he would shoot, “nor allow sufficient time for Kilyn to comply” with what the family claims were “overlapping and conflicting commands being shouted at him.”
“No reasonable officer in Defendant Dieck’s position would have perceived Kilyn as posing an imminent threat of harm toward [him] or any other person,” the lawsuit reads, adding Deick “chose to use a lethal weapon, notwithstanding that he was assigned to use a less-than-lethal weapon.”
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The lawsuit argues that Aurora “had the right and ability to control Dieck’s actions,” and stated his conduct was “willful and wanton” at the time of the shooting.
Aurora city officials said earlier Wednesday they could not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit as they had not yet been served the document, but spokesman Ryan Luby pointed out that several investigations into the shooting deemed it justified.
“As we have stated numerous times previously, every investigatory body – internally and externally – responsible for reviewing officer-involved shootings in Aurora determined that the officer acted lawfully in this case,” Luby wrote in an email to Denver7. “Aurora City Attorney Pete Schulte agrees with those determinations and his office will strongly defend the actions of the officer and the Aurora Police Department.”
Indeed, in a report from October of last year, 18th Judicial District Attorney John Keller found that Officer Dieck was justified in using deadly force and said criminal charges were not warranted. A separate report from the Aurora Police Department determined the officer did not violate agency policy.
In a report last year, however, Aurora’s independent monitor raised questions surrounding APD’s handling of the shooting, specifically why officers approached Lewis without cover when the department considered the situation a “high-risk stop."
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The report also raised concerns about Dieck’s history in prior shootings, saying it raised potential questions about the selection criteria for officers “assigned to SWAT operations and APD’s retention policies for members of the SWAT team.”
“In any use of force, especially in an officer-involved shooting, there’s the question of whether or not anything could have been done differently to have achieved a better outcome,” the report stated.
That claim is something Lewis’ family agreed on, stating in the lawsuit that, “Other reasonable options were available to the officers, including Defendant Dieck, to take Kilyn into custody without resorting to use of deadly force.”
The family said Dieck “owed Kilyn… reasonable care in the exercise of his duties as an APD officer,” and alleged the officer’s use of force was unreasonable and violated several Colorado laws.
“This lawsuit is not just about a dollar amount. It’s about truth. It’s about making sure that the life of a Black man like Kilyn Lewis is not so easily discarded,” said MiDian Shofner, CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership and lead advocate for the family, in a statement. “No amount of money can bring him back, but since America has made money the metric for justice, the family is rightfully pursuing every legal remedy available.”
Shofner continued, "This is not the end of the fight... This lawsuit is one step on a long road that this family has courageously walked, not just for Kilyn, but for every life lost to police violence. The Lewis family has been and continues to be a force for change. That will not stop."
In addition to compensation for past and future economic losses, losses incurred due to emotional distress and compensation for out-of-pocket costs, the lawsuit also states the family is requesting a jury trial in the case.
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