Two years ago, Denver police officer Michael Traudt shot and killed Paul Castaway, a suicidal man holding a knife to his own throat. The entirely unnecessary killing was captured on video and in spite of this video, Traudt was found justified in the killing.
Last year, Castaways mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the case, however, authorities moved to dismiss it. In a small victory this week, a US District Court judge has denied the motion to dismiss the case and it will remain alive.
"If you look at the video, there's no way a jury doesn't find that this police officer killed Paul Castaway and violated his civil rights," the family's attorney, Matthew Buck said. "That's why I think they fought so hard to get the case away from a jury. Because axiomatically, it's murder."
As Westword.com
reports, along with Traudt, the other defendants in the suit, aside from officer Traudt, were the City and County of Denver, Chief of Police Robert White and Jerry Lara, another officer who responded to the fateful call about Castaway. Wiley Y. Daniel, senior judge for the 10th Circuit, tossed the claims against Denver, White and Lara, as well as ones that targeted Traudt in his official capacity. However, Traudt is still on the hook as an individual in regard to actions for which he wasn't punished by either the Denver Police Department or the Denver District Attorney's Office under previous DA Mitch Morrissey.
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