Lawsuit filed on behalf of man who died after being tased by CSPD officers settled for $3.2 million

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – The city of Colorado Springs has agreed to a $3.2 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by the estate of Jeffrey Melvin Jr., a man who died in 2018 after being pepper-sprayed and repeatedly tased by Colorado Springs police.

Attorneys representing the family of Melvin filed the lawsuit against the city and the two involved officers back in April 2020, claiming his death was the result of excessive force by police.

"I lost him before I even started middle school. He was never able to come to my sports. That chance was taken from me," Jeffrey's son, Xavier Melvin, said.

"It's rough raising my son and seeing his dad in him, and his memory of him is fading because he was so young when he lost him," Xavier's mom, Lynell Johnston, said.

Xavier, now 18, said he plans to use his part of the money to help him pursue his dream of traveling the skies.

"It will help me become a pilot. That's what I want to do. I've been flying for a couple of years now," Xavier said. "I always know he'll be flying with me, so I'll be safe."

The suit stems back to April 26, 2018, when two officers with the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) were called to a disturbance at the Remington Apartments on the southeast side of the city and found a man and a woman drinking with an unrelated 16-year-old girl. The man said he had gotten in a fight with his "homeboys," who had since left. Melvin was not in the apartment.

While questioning the three in the apartment, one of the officers alleges that Melvin entered the complex, ran past him into the apartment, and locked him out. The officer then starts his body cam footage, which was released by the law firm representing Melvin's estate. In the footage, you hear the officer locked out calling to his partner, who is still inside the apartment.

According to court records and bodycam footage, the officers ordered Melvin to open the door. He complied, and an officer immediately attempted to handcuff Melvin. He resists, retreating from the officers. The officers continue to attempt to restrain him, using pepper spray and tasing him 5 times in less than two minutes, according to court documents.

Before tasering Melvin, an officer yells, "You're going to get hurt if you don't stop."

At one point, Melvin escaped the apartment and ran into the street, pursued by the officers, who continued to pepper-spray him and tase him three more times before Melvin stopped resisting and they took him into custody.

While Melvin continually resisted arrest, the two officers said he “did not initiate any physical contact; he never attempted to hit, kick, bite, or spit at the Officers; and he never threatened anyone," according to court records.

"You're killing me, you're honestly killing me," you hear Melvin say on the bodycam footage while officers pin him to the ground outside the complex.

Melvin died in the hospital after spending six days in a medically induced coma; according to court documents, the El Paso Coroner's Office declared his death a homicide. Blood work at the hospital revealed Melvin had no illegal drugs in his system.

The lawsuit, filed by Killmer Lane on behalf of Melvin's estate, alleges CSPD failed to train officers on proper use of nonlethal force.

"This violent and completely unreasonable force was used against Mr. Melvin despite the facts that he was unarmed, acting lawfully, and did not threaten any officer," the lawsuit alleges.

In December of 2023, the 10th Circuit Court ruled that the two officers were eligible for Qualified Immunity. It's a legal principle intended to protect government officials, like police officers, from civil lawsuits for their actions on the job unless the accuser can prove the official violated "clearly established" Constitutional rights.

In the court's explanation, it said there was no established legal precedent limiting the number of times a taser could be deployed in the situation captured on body camera footage.

Furthermore, the court acknowledged that the officers only deployed their tasers after Melvin refused to comply with their commands to stop resisting.

Qualified Immunity does not protect the governing body, which can still be held accountable in civil court for the actions of its employees. In this case, the City of Colorado Springs.

On Tuesday, the Colorado Springs City Council approved a $3.2 million settlement in the case. However, CSPD said it disagrees with the city's decision to settle and was prepared to take the case to trial.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez called the law firm's claims about the settlement "grossly inaccurate."

"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," Vasquez said.

You can find CSPD's standard for Operation Procedures here. Taser guidelines start at the bottom of page two.

The department emphasized that the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.

"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," a statement from CSPD read in part. "Rather, it was a decision made by the City’s excess coverage insurance carrier to mitigate a perceived financial risk of going to trial."

Johnston said her next step is to advocate for legislation requiring stricter standards for taser use by law enforcement.

You can read the full statement from CSPD below:

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