The family of a man killed by an Aurora police officer has filed a lawsuit accusing the department of a long history of racial bias and excessive force, arguing his death was not an isolated incident but the product of systemic failures. The suit says the Aurora Police Department has longstanding issues that go well beyond the actions of a single officer.
As reported by 9News, the lawsuit accuses the officer and the department of using excessive force and alleges Aurora police have a long history of racial bias, per the filing. The case echoes a broader federal lawsuit filed in May 2026, when the estate of Kilyn Lewis sued the City of Aurora, alleging that municipal policy failures and inadequate force-review systems led to SWAT Officer Michael Dieck fatally shooting the unarmed 37-year-old Black man in May 2024, according to Courthouse News Service. Lewis was reportedly holding a cell phone when officers moved to execute an arrest warrant.
A Pattern Plaintiffs' Attorneys Say Points to City Culture
Attorneys pursuing these cases are increasingly targeting municipal liability rather than focusing solely on individual officer conduct, arguing that Aurora's leadership has fostered a culture that tolerates force violations, per Courthouse News Service. That framing has shown up in case after case. In August 2025, the family of 32-year-old Rashaud Johnson sued an Aurora police officer for wrongful death after Johnson was shot and killed while unarmed and experiencing a mental health crisis near Denver International Airport that May, with body camera footage showing Johnson walking toward the officer before shots were fired, according to 9News.
The pattern extends to Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, a 37-year-old man fatally shot during a traffic stop in August 2025. On August 3, an 18th Judicial District grand jury unsealed an indictment charging Aurora Police Officer Matthew Neely with second-degree murder and reckless manslaughter in that killing, following a months-long grand jury review, per Sentinel Colorado. Hoodline previously reported that Belt-Stubblefield's family sought $20 million in a notice of claim against the city.
Years of Costly Settlements and a Court-Ordered Reform Effort
Aurora's history of paying out for police conduct runs deep. In November 2021, the city agreed to a historic $15 million settlement with the family of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died in 2019 after police placed him in a neck hold and paramedics injected him with ketamine, according to The Colorado Sun. That settlement, the largest police payout in city history, followed nationwide racial justice protests.
More recently, in February 2024, the city paid $1.9 million to Brittney Gilliam after officers mistakenly identified her vehicle as stolen and held her and four young children at gunpoint on hot pavement, per The Guardian. Local prosecutors found the officers had followed their training but still urged policy reviews. Just this April, Hoodline reported that Aurora paid $400,000 to settle a separate federal jury finding that another officer used excessive force during a traffic stop takedown.
The McClain case also led to a binding legal framework: in November 2021, the city and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser entered a consent decree mandating 78 agency reforms across five operational areas, including racial bias and use-of-force policy, marking the first pattern-and-practice consent decree in Colorado history, according to the Colorado Attorney General's office. An independent monitor tracking that decree reported in July 2025 that Aurora had achieved substantial compliance on 57 of the 78 mandates, a 73% compliance rate.
State Investigation Found Racial Disparities in Force
The lawsuit's allegations of racial bias track findings from a formal state investigation. A September 2021 civil rights probe by the Colorado Department of Law, which analyzed more than 3 million department records over five years, found that Aurora police used force against people of color almost 2.5 times more often than against white residents relative to population share, with Black residents accounting for nearly half of all force incidents despite making up just 15% of the city's population, according to KUNC.
City leadership, meanwhile, has faced pressure on multiple fronts tied to this litigation. In March 2026, Aurora settled a federal First Amendment lawsuit after council members had restricted public comment during contentious discussions about police shooting lawsuits, agreeing to maintain up to one hour of public comment before regular meetings for three years, per Colorado Politics. Then in August, the Aurora City Council approved salary increases for police officers as it sought to boost recruitment and retention amid the heightened scrutiny and ongoing civil litigation, a decision that coincided with the fifth anniversary of Elijah McClain's death, according to CPR News.
