Lawsuit alleges that officers who shot and killed an Orange man used excessive force

The parents of a knife-wielding man who was shot and killed by police have filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Orange, accusing officers of using excessive force against their son while he was suffering from a mental-health crisis.

An attorney for the parents of Erik Lee,  in a complaint filed Monday at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana, alleges that Lee, 43, did not pose an immediate threat to the officers who killed him in front of his father on Dec. 12, 2019 on a residential street in Orange.

“There is a serious problem throughout this country with the continued use of excessive force by law enforcement against our citizens,” Dale Galipo, the attorney representing Lee’s parents, said in a statement.

“This case is another example of the unnecessary use of excessive deadly force when the police are responding to a family’s call for help for a loved one suffering from a medical emergency or mental-health crisis,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office cleared the officers who fatally shot Lee, Bryce Nielsen and Michael Slaughter, from possible prosecution. A prosecutor wrote in a public letter that their actions were “reasonable and justified under the circumstances.”

“Both Officer Slaughter and Officer Nielsen were reasonably justified in believing that Lee posed a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to himself and others, and moreover the officers themselves,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown wrote in the letter.

City officials declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing a policy to not discuss active litigation.

According to the letter, Lee’s mother called 911 around 11:20 a.m. that day to report that her son had a knife, had cut himself on purpose and wanted to, in the letter’s words, “commit suicide by cop.” The family’s home was in the 6900 block of East Magdalena Drive.

When police arrived at the scene, Lee said “bye” to his father and walked toward the officers, according to the letter. The father ducked behind his car, believing Lee was getting ready to commit suicide, the letter said.

When the officers arrived, Lee was standing at the center of a residential street, holding a cloth bag at chest height, according to the DA’s Office’s letter.

The two officers spoke briefly before contacting Lee, according to the letter, with Slaughter agreeing to draw his Taser if “less-than-lethal” force was needed, and Nielsen drawing his handgun in case “lethal force” was required.

According to the letter, the officers believed Lee had a knife concealed in the bag he was holding, so Nielsen repeated, “Let me see your hands” over and over in a “loud but calm manner.” The officers told investigators that they began to retreat backward when Lee ignored their commands.

Slaughter told DA investigators that Lee had a “thousand-yard stare” and was “looking right through them.” They didn’t want to back up past their patrol vehicle, fearing Lee would take one of the weapons stored inside of it, Slaughter told the investigators.

Nielsen told investigators that he believed the long-sleeved sweatshirt and “bulky bag” Lee was carrying would make a Taser ineffective, according to the DA letter.

Nielsen said that he “feared Lee was going to kill him and his partner” and fired seven rounds at Lee, which he initially believed struck the pavement behind Lee. Slaughter fired his Taser, he told investigators, but the probes fell short of Lee.

But Lee stumbled toward the sidewalk, then regained his balance and “displayed a large butcher knife in his right hand” and ignored both officers’ commands to drop the knife, according to the DA’s Office’s report.

A video of the shooting taken from a patrol car, previously released by the DA’s Office, shows Lee bending over.

Both officers fired their guns, with Nielsen firing six rounds and Slaughter four rounds, according to the DA’s Office’s letter.

Lee died at the scene. There was a knife with a seven-inch blade and a meat cleaver with an eight-inch blade found next to his body, investigators with the District Attorney’s Office said.

According to the letter, Lee’s mother told investigators that Lee was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome and bipolar disorder and would get angry when he didn’t take his medication.

The lawsuit, which seeks an unspecified amount of damages, argues that the force the officers used against Lee was excessive, given his mental illness, and says they could have used “reasonable alternatives” to deadly force.