COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — The city has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of the estate of a man who died after being tased and pepper-sprayed by the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD).
The settlement entails a total $3.2 million approved by the Colorado Springs City Council on Tuesday night in a closed executive session. The vote was 6-2, with Councilmembers Dave Donelson and Kimberly Gold voting no.
The interaction happened in 2018.
Attorneys representing the family of Jeffrey Melvin Jr. sued the City of Colorado Springs and two police officers. The suit claimed his death was the result of excessive force.
Police body cam video, which was released by the law firm, shows Melvin Jr. arriving and officers seeming to mistake him for someone named Josh.
In the video, Melvin insists that there is no Josh present. An officer then asked Melvin who he was.
An officer then orders Melvin to put his hands behind his back. He refuses and tries to retreat from the officers. The interaction then became physical.
At one point, Melvin escaped the apartment and ran across the street before the officers caught up with him and took him into custody. The suit says he was taken to the hospital, where he went into a coma and died.
CSPD is pushing back against the law firm's claims. You can read a statement from Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez below:
“Unfortunately, attorneys for the Melvin family (Killmer Lane LLC) decided to put out a press release providing grossly inaccurate information regarding the settlement. Killmer Lane attorneys are fully aware of the facts of this case as documented through investigative files, court documents, and body-worn camera footage. I find it highly inappropriate and concerning that Kilmer Lane LLC are attempting to capitalize on this settlement in the manner they’ve chosen. When our officers responded to the disturbance call for service that led them to contact Mr. Melvin, they hoped only to resolve the situation peacefully. Under the law and based on the officers’ training, they acted justifiably to detain Mr. Melvin, and we stand behind our officers and their actions.”
Police say the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed any claims against the two officers involved in 2023, and they also ruled their tasers were only deployed after Melvin failed to comply with commands for him to stop resisting.
CSPD said the following in part of a press release sent out Tuesday:
"While the City of Colorado Springs has officially and financially settled this case, we want to state unequivocally that this settlement is not, in any way, an admission or indication that CSPD’s training standards were inadequate or that we failed to properly train officers. Rather, it was a decision made by the City’s excess coverage insurance carrier to mitigate a perceived financial risk of going to trial."
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