{"id":808,"date":"2026-05-25T16:02:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=808"},"modified":"2026-05-25T16:02:58","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T16:02:58","slug":"federal-lawsuit-filed-against-aurora-in-fatal-police-shooting-of-kilyn-lewis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=808","title":{"rendered":"Federal lawsuit filed against Aurora in fatal police shooting of Kilyn Lewis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new lawsuit filed last week against the city of Aurora alleges systemic failures in training and discipline led to the fatal shooting of Kilyn Lewis in 2024, according to federal court records.<\/p>\n

Read more What to expect from Colorado\u2019s miller moth season<\/a><\/p>\n

The federal complaint comes after Lewis\u2019 family filed a state lawsuit in Arapahoe County last year against both the city of Aurora and SWAT officer Michael Dieck, who fatally shot 37-year-old Lewis. Aurora was later removed from the state complaint, but the claims against Dieck will proceed to trial in March 2027, court records show.<\/p>\n

That lawsuit alleges that Dieck\u2019s use of force against Lewis was unconstitutional, and that his \u201cwilling and wanton\u201d conduct counts as assault and battery causing wrongful death.<\/p>\n

The two lawsuits are like parallel train tracks, said Lisi Owen, one of four attorneys representing Lewis\u2019 estate. They were both sparked by the same police shooting, but one is seeking justice for the individual incident and the other aims to create systemic change, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is, it\u2019s not just a couple of bad apples causing police violence in this country,\u201d Owen said. \u201cThe barrel is rotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean all police officers are corrupt, Owen said, but that the system in place is flawed and being propped up by cities and their police departments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city needs to do something about this,\u201d she said. \u201cThey absolutely cannot let this go on. \u2026 We plan to hold them accountable just as much as Michael Dieck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owen is joined on the lawsuit by Brad Irwin with Irwin Fraley LLP, and by Dale Galipo and Benjamin Levine with The Law Offices of Dale K. Galipo in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

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The city of Aurora did not respond to requests for comment over the weekend, and Aurora Police Department spokesperson Gabby Easterwood said the department does not normally comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n

Lewis was shot and killed by Dieck on May 23, 2024, during an attempted arrest. He was a suspect in a separate Denver shooting and wanted on investigation of attempted murder, police said.<\/p>\n

Aurora law enforcement surveilled Lewis for roughly two days before the shooting, according to the federal lawsuit. The officers knew where he was, knew what he was doing and knew he was unarmed, the lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n

SWAT officers swarmed Lewis in the parking lot near his apartment, weapons drawn and shouting overlapping commands to get on the ground and show his hands, according to body-worn camera video released by the police department. Lewis attempted to comply, turning toward Dieck and beginning to lower himself to the ground when he was shot, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe was only holding a cell phone and snack food,\u201d the lawsuit stated. \u201cHe was not armed. He was not taking a shooting stance. He was not fleeing. He was not charging. He did not threaten anyone. He did not pose an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to Officer Dieck or anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dieck shot Lewis in the abdomen less than 10 seconds after exiting his police vehicle and \u201cdid not issue any warning that he would shoot if Mr. Lewis did not comply,\u201d the document stated. The officer did not give Lewis time to understand and comply with the overlapping orders and did not use readily available \u201cless-lethal force\u201d options, such as a baton launcher, the lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n

Read more Aurora man takes plea deal in child \u2018sextortion\u2019 case, receives deferred sentence<\/a><\/p>\n

Arapahoe County District Attorney John Kellner ruled that Dieck\u2019s use of force was justified in an October 2024 decision letter. Dieck \u201creasonably believed there was an imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury,\u201d Kellner wrote.<\/p>\n

An internal review conducted by the Aurora Police Department, which included Aurora\u2019s independent consent decree monitor, determined that Dieck had not violated department policy.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit claims the city of Aurora failed to properly train, supervise and discipline officers, and alleges the department\u2019s policies and customs were the \u201cmoving force behind the violation\u201d of Lewis\u2019 Fourth Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

Aurora city officials knew about the police department\u2019s \u201csystemic problems\u201d \u2014 including excessive force and training issues \u2014 before the deadly shooting, the lawsuit stated.<\/p>\n

At the time of the shooting, the Aurora Police Department was already under a Consent Decree, which was enacted after an investigation by the Colorado Attorney General\u2019s Office revealed a pattern of racially biased policing and routine use of excessive force in Aurora. The department will remain under that decree until approximately February 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lewis shooting is precisely the kind of predictable constitutional injury that adequate policies, training, supervision, discipline, and force-review systems are supposed to prevent,\u201d the lawsuit stated.<\/p>\n

Officers rushed the process, issued conflicting demands, failed to de-escalate and treated Lewis\u2019 non-threatening movement toward compliance as justification for deadly force \u2014 all actions contrary to the reform that was supposed to be underway in the department, the lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n

Extensive changes were made to the police department\u2019s SWAT procedures after the fatal shooting, including \u201ca more rigorous approval process\u201d for warrants, a new risk-assessment matrix, weapons concerns and training enhancements, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scope of those changes demonstrates that, at the time of the Lewis shooting, APD\u2019s existing SWAT policies \u2026 were inadequate,\u201d the lawsuit against the city of Aurora stated.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit alleges that Aurora\u2019s \u201cofficial policies, longstanding customs, practices, decisions, and omissions\u201d led to Dieck violating Lewis\u2019 Fourth Amendment rights. That includes allowing Aurora police officers to escalate encounters through \u201csudden shows of overwhelming force,\u201d failing to ensure the consent monitor reforms were implemented in practice instead of only on paper, allowing officers to use deadly force without reasonable warning and failing to require meaningful investigation into and discipline for excessive or deadly force, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Aurora officials also failed to properly train officers on threat assessments, de-escalation, warnings and the constitutional limits on deadly force, the lawsuit alleges. The complaint claims that city officials were \u201cdeliberately indifferent\u201d to the \u201cknown and obvious\u201d consequences of its allegedly subpar training, supervision and discipline.<\/p>\n

The Aurora Police Department then justified Dieck\u2019s actions by clearing him in the internal investigation, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Read more 1 killed, 4 injured in Adams County crash near Brighton<\/a><\/p>\n

As of Sunday evening, no hearings had been scheduled for the federal case.<\/p>\n

Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The federal complaint comes after Kilyn Lewis\u2019 family filed a state lawsuit in Arapahoe County last year against both the city of Aurora and SWAT officer Michael Dieck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal lawsuit filed against Aurora in fatal police shooting of Kilyn Lewis - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=808\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal lawsuit filed against Aurora in fatal police shooting of Kilyn Lewis - 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