A federal court has denied the city of Westminster’s request to dismiss an excessive force lawsuit in the 2018 shooting death of a man who allegedly charged officers with a knife, after acknowledging a pattern in the police department of no de-escalation attempts.

“Plaintiff’s allegations are sufficient to establish that given the frequency with which police officers encounter individuals of diminished mental capacity, the need to implement appropriate training should have been obvious to the City,” wrote U.S. District Judge Raymond P. Moore in a Jan. 13 order.

Police killed Timmy Henley, 27, outside an apartment complex, saying he held a knife above his head and charged at officers, according to police accounts. However, the lawsuit from Henley’s estate claimed the only knife was located behind a closed apartment door.

According to records, on Sept. 4, 2018, Henley was hallucinating after consuming cocaine. Two hours prior to the fatal interaction, Officer Louis Engleberg responded to a 9-1-1 call to find Henley standing on a neighbor’s truck and claiming that dogs were chasing him (they were not). After a patdown and a medical check, Westminster police released Henley.

After a second 9-1-1 call reporting a possible apartment break-in at the same complex, Engleberg again responded with Officer Chris Hempelmann. Engleberg recognized Henley after the man exited an apartment, seeming disoriented. Reportedly, Henley tried to descend a flight of stairs but the officers, rather than de-escalating, shot him 11 times.

There was no body-worn camera footage of the interaction. Colorado’s 2020 police accountability law, Senate Bill 217, set a deadline of July 1, 2023, for local law enforcement agencies to equip their officers with cameras.

“The City of Westminster has persisted in its decision to not use body cameras despite numerous examples of cases where the officer’s narrative is plainly contradicted by other evidence,” wrote Raymond K. Bryant and Luke W. McConnell, attorneys for the plaintiff, in the federal complaint filed on Jan. 6, 2020.

U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews reviewed the allegations and Westminster’s motion to dismiss, ultimately recommending on Dec. 22 that the circumstances plausibly described a violation of Henley’s constitutional rights.

As evidence of Westminster’s failure to train and supervise its officers, the lawsuit cited three other instances, including two in which Engleberg used force on children, “where excessive force was allegedly used on individuals with diminished mental capacity or emotional disturbances.”

The prior interactions included Engleberg going hands-on with an 11-year-old autistic boy, a similar altercation involving an emotionally-distressed 16-year-old, and a fatal police shooting of an unarmed man in mental distress – one that did not involve the officers sued in Henley’s death.

Westminster objected to Crews’ recommendation, saying the other instances of reported misconduct were dissimilar, and, in the fatal case, occurred too close to the Henley shooting for the city to take proper corrective action. There was also no proof, the city continued, that training specifically about mentally or emotionally compromised individuals would have led to a different outcome.

“Considered together,” Moore wrote in response, “the allegations underlying these incidents are sufficient to show an informal custom of allowing the City’s officers to escalate situations involving people with diminished mental capacity by using force and a failure to train or supervise its officers.”

Sgt. Trevor Materasso, spokesperson for the Westminster Police Department, said that the city is finalizing its purchase for body-worn cameras, as well as its training and policy requirements. He estimated officers will begin wearing the equipment in early 2021. The city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Moore’s order.

“We believe the motion was simply a delay tactic designed to impede our efforts to peer deeper into the evidence of the case and into the evidence of other incidents involving Westminster officers using excessive force,” said Bryant about the city’s request to dismiss. “When Westminster officers kill, they may silence the voice of their target, but the evidence left behind speaks volumes if it is allowed to be seen and acted upon.”

The case is Estate of Timmy Henley v. Westminster et al.