The fatal police shooting of 26-year-old Alex Martinez-Sarmiento in downtown Colorado Springs is headed to federal court, with his family accusing the city and its police department of turning a summer night encounter into a deadly overreaction.
On Tuesday, Martinez-Sarmiento's relatives filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the City of Colorado Springs, its police department, and Officer Connor Wallick. The complaint seeks an unspecified amount of money and a jury trial, and attorneys Andy McNulty and Mari Newman say the case is about forcing the department to answer for what happened.
Family's account of the shooting
According to The Denver Post, the lawsuit says Martinez-Sarmiento was running from an officer outside the Mansion nightclub on the 100 block of Pikes Peak Avenue on July 5, 2025, when he was shot three times in the back.
The complaint alleges that before the shots were fired, Martinez-Sarmiento had complied with police commands, raised his hands, and was holding only a cigarette. It claims Officer Wallick opened fire anyway.
“Something is profoundly wrong when a young man of color cannot walk the streets of Colorado Springs without being gunned down by the police,” Newman told The Denver Post.
How police and prosecutors defended the shooting
The 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office reviewed the case and concluded the shooting was justified, saying Wallick reported that Martinez-Sarmiento moved as if he were about to draw a gun.
As reported by The Gazette, investigators leaned on surveillance video and body-worn camera footage to piece together the encounter.
The El Paso County Sheriff's Office previously identified Martinez-Sarmiento as the suspect and said officers recovered a Glock-style semi-automatic pistol with an extended magazine from his pant leg. That account is detailed on the El Paso County Sheriff's Office website.
Lawsuit claims a broader pattern
The new complaint does not stop at a single incident. It lists 13 other cases that it says reveal a pattern of excessive force by Colorado Springs police and alleges the city has paid “substantial sums” to resolve prior misconduct claims.
According to The Denver Post, the lawsuit names the department alongside Wallick and explicitly asks that a jury decide the case.
How it stacks up against past payouts
Colorado Springs officials have faced expensive and highly publicized civil claims before. In 2022, the city approved a nearly $3 million settlement with the family of De'Von Bailey after he was shot by officers, a payout that helped fuel a broader debate over policing and accountability. That settlement was covered by The Colorado Sun.
The Martinez-Sarmiento case is now in federal court, moving forward on the civil track regardless of the district attorney's earlier finding that the shooting was justified. Civil litigation can pry loose body camera footage, training records, and other internal documents that lawyers for Martinez-Sarmiento say will test the department's policies and practices, and both sides are expected to dig in as discovery ramps up in the months ahead.
