AURORA | The family of Kilyn Lewis, a Black man who was shot and killed by Aurora police during his arrest in 2024, has filed a second lawsuit against the city, alleging systemic failures in policies and training led to Lewis’ death.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court, seeks to hold the city accountable for supporting and defending Aurora police officer Michael Dieck, who shot 37-year-old Lewis. It argues that the city’s policies and training allowed Dieck to violate Lewis’ constitutional rights and the city’s failure to discipline Dieck constitutes its approval of his unconstitutional actions.
“The city’s customs and practices caused APD officers, including Officer Dieck, to utilize inappropriate tactics and use unreasonable force against Mr. Lewis and to believe that the tactics used against Mr. Lewis and the use of deadly force against him would be tolerated, approved, or deemed within policy by the city,” the lawsuit states.
It calls the city “deliberately indifferent to the known and obvious consequences of its failure to adequately train, supervise, and discipline APD officers.”
In addition to the federal lawsuit, the Lewis family is also suing Dieck individually in Arapahoe County District Court. While Aurora was initially listed on the county lawsuit, the city has been removed from that case and a trial has been set for March 2027.
While the county lawsuit focuses on Dieck’s conduct, the federal lawsuit is directed at what it alleges as the systemic problems with the police department’s use-of-force policies and training, said Lisi Owen, an attorney for the Lewis family. Owen said the lawsuit was prompted because the city disregarded its obligation to condemn Dieck’s actions.
“Instead, what the city of Aurora has done is have his back, they’re defending (Dieck) both legally and politically,” Owen said. “That is the City of Aurora saying this type of conduct is what we expect of our officers and is perfectly acceptable to us. And that is not acceptable to the Lewis family.”
In a statement, city spokesperson Joe Rubino said Aurora had not been served with the lawsuit and cannot comment on pending litigation.
A previous statement from the city, released when the county court case was filed, reiterated that investigations have cleared Dieck of wrongdoing and said the city attorney’s office “will strongly defend the actions of the officer and the Aurora Police Department.”
The newest lawsuit claims city officials have ignored systemic issues that were identified by the 2021 state-imposed consent decree, which mandated police reform of use-of-force policies after finding a pattern of excessive force, particularly against people of color. The consent decree was put in place after the 2019 death of Elijah McClain and is still active through 2027.
Owen said the Lewis family’s lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages, as well as potential policy and training reforms.
“Aurora has already been ordered to stop killing unarmed Black men, and they can’t seem to get it together, and so one of the things that we’ll be seeking to discover in the lawsuit is why can they not get it together,” Owen said. “Once we know that, we can craft a hopefully more meaningful remedy.”
Lewis was shot May 23, 2024 after he raised his hands above his head, holding his cell phone in one hand, during an attempted arrest by an Aurora SWAT unit in connection with a separate Denver shooting. Dieck, who shot Lewis as he raised his arms, later said during an investigation that he thought the phone was a firearm.
The federal lawsuit says Dieck shot Lewis in the torso less than 10 seconds after exiting his police vehicle, without issuing any warning that he would shoot if Lewis did not comply with police orders. Officers also gave Lewis overlapping orders and Dieck did not use readily available less-lethal options, such as a 40mm launcher, according to the lawsuit.
After the shooting, the former Arapahoe County district attorney and a grand jury declined to seek criminal charges against Dieck, saying his actions were not outside the law. An internal investigation also determined Dieck broke no APD policies during the arrest and shooting, and Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said he would not pursue discipline in the case. Dieck was removed from the SWAT team.
As part of the consent decree, the city’s contracted police monitor investigated the Lewis shooting and questioned the utilization of the Aurora SWAT team to execute a Denver warrant and the decision not to use less-lethal tactics. However, the monitor agreed with the findings from the police department and judicial district that Dieck acted reasonably.
The lawsuit argues that the results of the city’s internal investigations and its ongoing defense of Dieck “constitutes an admission that APD policy or custom permitted deadly force in circumstances in which the Fourth Amendment forbids it.”
Though Dieck was not found to have violated any policies, the police department changed its SWAT procedures after the fatal shooting to include “a more rigorous approval process” for warrants, a new risk-assessment matrix and training enhancements. The lawsuit alleges that the changes prove that the policies were “inadequate” at the time of the shooting.
“The Lewis shooting is precisely the kind of predictable constitutional injury that adequate policies, training, supervision, discipline, and force-review systems are supposed to prevent,” reads the lawsuit.
No court dates have been scheduled yet for the lawsuit.