Aurora lawmakers suspend in-person meetings amid Kilyn Lewis lawsuit

AURORA | Aurora City Council voted to suspend in-person public comment and move all future meetings to a virtual format until the civil court case involving the fatal police shooting of Kilyn Lewis is resolved. 

“It’s in the court’s hands now, and I would like to suspend this to be virtual until we have an official ruling from a court as to whether or not the city is liable in any way, shape or form for the death of Kylin Lewis,” Councilmember Danielle Jurisky said in her motion. “If that takes two years, it takes two years.”

The City Council approved Jurinsky’s motion to preclude in-person meetings and end the ability of the public to address the council on non-agenda items. The change was opposed by councilmembers Crystal Murillo, Ruben Medina, and Alison Coombs.

“This is, once again, an absolutely ridiculous attempt to silence the public instead of simply just listening,” Coombs said before opposing the vote.

The decision followed renewed pushbacks from Justice for Lewis activists during Monday’s council meeting, prompting the abrupt departure of most council members from the dais and council chambers.

Lewis was shot and killed by Aurora SWAT officer Michael Dieck on May 23, 2024, as police attempted to arrest him in connection with a Denver shooting. According to investigators, Lewis was raising his hands, holding a phone, when Dieck fired. The officer later claimed he mistook the phone for a firearm. Lewis’ family and their supporters have attended every city council meeting for more than a year, often bringing meetings to an end with boisterous and distracting protests inside council chambers.

City lawmakers have changed meeting rules on numerous occasions, creating a cat-and-mouse scenario for months.

Lewis’ family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in early June, just over a year after the shooting.

The shut-down follows a recent policy change that allows only one person at the lectern or in the city council well, unless there is an advance request for Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations is granted.

The situation escalated Monday when two of the more prominent activists, Auon’tai Anderson and MiDian Shofner, who regularly speak about the Lewis death, both requested ADA accommodations to have others stand with them at the lectern. Their requests prompted resistance from city staff, security and one outspoken member of the public, who accused Shofner of mocking people with disabilities.

After Shofner requested ADA accommodations by having people stand at the lectern with her, she was denied, and the people who walked up to stand with her moved out of the well but stood at the edge of the steps.

At the same time, the microphone at the lectern quit working. City officials later said the microphone malfunction was because of “technical difficulties.”

Although Shofner would not disclose what her disability is, she later told the Sentinel that it does require assistance from multiple people on occasions. She said she did not initially request accommodations. Still, when she saw the security presence for Anderson when he spoke at the lectern, she realized she would need assistance. 

She said she can self-regulate her emotional anxiety and distress in certain situations with the support of other people, and that is why she requires multiple people for support.

“It’s based on the setting that was present that night,” she said. “They had heightened security right around the podium, where they had two security officials standing at the base of the podium. Once I watched how they interacted with Auon’tai and how the officer engaged with Auon’tai. That was where it was triggered. So it was based on the setting that they set.” 

Shofner also said that this is one reason why she has had people with her at the lectern in the past and why she does not always require it when she speaks publicly. 

The microphone did not work for the remainder of the public-invited-to-be-heard session, despite the entire crowd in the chambers chanting to “let her speak.” 

A cacophony ot chant and yells included those opposed to the activists and people who came to partake in the city council meeting itself. 

“This is not necessary,” Coombs said to the crowd. “It’s because they want to frame the folks coming to say the things they have to say, as a threat, all of the pageantry and all of the structure within which to reinforce the idea that people coming to say what they have to say is a threat.”

The confrontation culminated in the city council and staff moving the meeting privately in a virtual format and reconvening in a nearby room, where they typically meet for Study Sessions. Councilmembers Coombs, Crystal Murillo, and Ruben Medina stayed on the dais, listening to the public speak while also watching the actual meeting on their cell phones. 

City Manager Jason Batchelor came into the chambers to move the remaining members of city staff into the new meeting room, one member of the crowd, Vrnda Noel, who was there separately from the activists for an agenda item, asked Batchelor if that she, too, might be called out when she spoke to the city council since her and her family members have disabilities and require accommodations. 

When Noel said she was concerned about the city not allowing Shofner to speak, Batchelor walked to the clerk’s desk and was then able to get the microphone working again, allowing everyone who signed up to speak and have their two minutes, even though the mayor and seven of the 10 city council members were gone. 

While public commenters continued speaking, the council began its meeting separately in the new, closed, meeting room, viewable on TV screens inside the chamber, leaving many members of the public confused and frustrated.

Another woman, Rebecca Johnson, who was not connected to the activists, said that this was her second council meeting since moving to Aurora two years ago. She told the Sentinel that she found the whole situation confusing and discouraging. 

“Trying to rob someone of their voice will just fuel more disturbances,” Johnson said. 

No clear instructions were given to the people in city council chambers on how to access the virtual meeting, and at least 10 residents who came to speak on agenda items said they were unaware that the meeting had been moved to online.

The lack of clear access to the meeting was deemed a potential violation of Colorado open meetings law, according to Jeff Roberts, executive director of  the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. 

“The open meetings law is very clear that their meetings must be open to the public,” Roberts said. “What that means is that the public needs to be able to watch and listen to the meeting in real time, and they need to also be notified of how that’s supposed to happen.”

Batchelor and Coombs went into the audience later during the meeting and spoke with each individual in the public, ensuring they left with the information and answers they needed. There were about six or seven more people who left before anyone could ask them why they attended the meeting. 

“It’s in the court’s hands now, and I would like to suspend this to be virtual until we have an official ruling from a court as to whether or not the city is liable in any way, shape or form for the death of Kylin Lewis,” Councilmember Danielle Jurisky said in her motion. “If that takes two years, it takes two years.”

The City Council approved the motion from Jurinsky, with all council members voting in favor, except councilmembers Murillo, Medina, and Coombs, who spent the entire meeting on the dais, watching their peers from their cell phones as the meeting was held in a separate room.