SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) – Officers who shot and killed a Washington State woman they say came at them with a knife will still have to face claims from the ensuing lawsuit.
That’s because the Washington Court of Appeals ruled Feb. 16 that there remain open questions surrounding the liability of officers Jason Anderson and Steven McNew over the death of Charleena Lyles.
Lyles frequently called Seattle police to her apartment building and had begun acting erratically, according to her sister. She once held a pair of metal shears when officers were at her apartment and told them they wouldn’t be leaving and that she wanted to morph into a wolf and clone her daughter.
She was arrested for harassment, and police recommended her case be heard in mental health court.
In the six months before her death, she called Seattle PD 23 times. It all culminated June 18, 2017, when she reported that an Xbox had been stolen from her apartment.
Anderson said she led them to a back bedroom and lunged at him with a knife. He avoided her, and McNew told Anderson to use his stun gun, which he had forgotten to bring (resulting in a two-day suspension).
She allegedly ignored their commands to move backward and continued approaching them with a knife in her hand. They shot her several times, killing her.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of her estate alleged negligence and assault, and Seattle and the officers argued they were immune from the claims.
One criminologist who testified as an expert witness said the use of firearms to de-escalate the situation was unreasonable and contrary to Seattle’s policies. Another expert said the death could have been avoided if Anderson had brought his stun gun.
A third expert testified Lyles, who was 5-foot-3 and about 100 pounds, was in a psychotic state and did not have the capacity to form the intent to assault the officers. The testimonies of all three were struck, and the trial court granted summary judgment to the officers.
The Court of Appeals ruled the testimony about her psychotic state was improperly struck and that an assumption of risk defense could be countered because Lyles didn’t understand her actions.
“The evidence of Lyles’ psychological condition on the day of her death creates a genuine issue of material fact as to whether she had the capacity to form the requisite intent to commit felony assault or attempted murder,” Judge Beth Andrus wrote.
And because Anderson forgot his stun gun, there remain issues of whether the officers followed Seattle’s use-of-force policies, Andrus wrote, not to mention the possibility of accidentally shooting one or both of the children who were in the apartment at the time.