The city of Colorado Springs will represent two police officers and a former police officer in a federal civil lawsuit filed by a man who claims law enforcement officials arrested him and acted “like they were going to murder” him after he called them for help in early 2019.

The City Council agreed informally on Monday to represent Colorado Springs police officers Lizet Castillo and Clayton Sunada, as well as former police officer Shane Owen, in a lawsuit filed March 6 as required by the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act and the Peace Officer’s Liability Act.

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The officers acted “in the course and scope of their employment and not in a willful and wanton manner,” a May 24 memorandum from the City Attorney’s Office to the City Council states.

Michael Lynn Ratcliff v. Tyler Brown, Bill Elder, Francis Johnson, Lizet Castillo, Shane Owen and Clayton Sunada, Case No. 23-cv-00605-RMMDB

Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown, former El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder and 4th Judicial District Court Judge Frances Johnson are also named as co-defendants in the suit.

Michael Lynn Ratcliff Jr. said in his amended pro se complaint filed March 29 he “called the police for help” on Jan. 28, 2019, because he was being “stalked and harassed by vigilante members of the community.”

Memo, May 24, 2023 from City Attorney’s Office to Colorado Springs City Council

When law enforcement arrived, Ratcliff claims, “instead of helping me they arrested me and began to gaslight me by acting like they were going to murder me.”

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Ratcliff alleges police used “allies in the convict community” to “psychologically abuse” him while he was incarcerated; claims he was jailed “for an unreasonable amount of time” while he underwent competency proceedings; claims his rights to a speedy trial and effective assistance of legal counsel were violated; and alleges he was “questioned repeatedly and constantly without legal representation.”

The original lawsuit states Ratcliff was incarcerated in the Arapahoe County and El Paso County jails and the alleged events occurred between late January 2019 and early August 2021.

The Colorado Springs Police Department, 4th Judicial District and Elder declined to comment on the case Monday. The Arapahoe County sheriff did not immediately respond to The Gazette’s request for comment.

According to the city attorney’s memo, reports and body camera footage show Colorado Springs police officers responded to a call from a Circle K store manager who reported a person was threatening people with a knife.

When they arrived, “officers contacted Mr. Ratcliff, who had a 16-inch knife on his person,” the memo states.

City attorneys did not provide details about the date of the call nor the location of the convenience store.

Witnesses identified Ratcliff as the man who had threatened a delivery driver with a knife in the store, according to the memo.

Police arrested and charged him with felony menacing, the memo states.

Ratcliff seeks $7.5 million in damages for the time he was jailed, the following year-and-a-half he claims in his lawsuit he was unable to work as charges against him were “dragged out,” and for the “mental anguish of losing all faith in the integrity” of law enforcement.

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