A memorial took shape in front of the Glenn home in Tigard, where Lukus Glenn was shot to death by police. Washington County deputieseither acted appropriately according to their training or lied about events that led up to the fatal shooting six years ago of a Tigard-area teenager, according to opening arguments presented Tuesday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Lukus Glenn.
The 18-year-old was shot and killed by Washington County sheriff’s deputies o
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A memorial took shape in front of the Glenn home in Tigard, where Lukus Glenn was shot to death by police. Washington County deputieseither acted appropriately according to their training or lied about events that led up to the fatal shooting six years ago of a Tigard-area teenager, according to opening arguments presented Tuesday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Lukus Glenn.
The 18-year-old was shot and killed by Washington County sheriff’s deputies outside his home in 2006.
Attorneys introduced jurors to the federal courtcase by playing 9-1-1 and police dispatch tapes, recorded at 3:05 a.m. Sept. 16, 2006, when Hope Glenn called seeking help for her drunken, suicidal son.
In a roughly four-minute period, Hope Glenn tells the 9-1-1 operator her son is holding a knife, bleeding and threatening to kill himself. After law enforcement arrives, she pleads with the operator, “Please don’t let them shoot him.” By the end of the tape, her son is on the ground outside their Metzger home, and Hope Glenn says through tears, “They killed him.”
Deputies commanded Lukus Glenn to put down the blade he was holding to his neck. They told him not to move any closer to the house, where his parents stood just inside.
A Tigard police officer struck Glenn with five beanbag rounds. Deputies Timothy Mateski and Mikhail Gerba then opened fire, killing the teen almost instantly.
The Washington County District Attorney’s Office ruled the shooting justified and did not present it to a grand jury. After the Glenn family filed suit seeking more than $7 million, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman granted summary judgment in favor of the county and the deputies.
On appeal, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the district court was not allowed to act as fact-finder on summary judgment and a jury should decide the case against the county and two deputies.
Attorney Larry Peterson, representing the family, said in his opening statements Tuesday the audio recording helped disprove the deputies’ “false narrative” about the incident.
Peterson said a Tigard police officer began firing rounds from a beanbag shotgun, but Gerba and Mateski had fired 11 lethal rounds before the last of six beanbags were shot.
The trial will answer the questions, Peterson said, of what happened in the minutes before Glenn’s death and why.
William Blair, attorney for the defendants, said in his opening statements that the deputies acted reasonably and followed their training when they shot the teen with lethal rounds to gain control of the scene.
The deputies agree, he said, that Lukus Glenn was not responsive when struck with beanbags.
“He stood there with a quizzical look on his face,” Blair said, “and then began charging toward the front door, where his parents stood with no protection because he’d already kicked in the door.”
The trial will center on analyzing the audio tapes, Blair said, which would support and explain the deputies’ actions. He urged jurors several times to “listen carefully.”
The trial before Judge Mosman continues Wednesday with witness testimony.