KUSA-9 News v. Miller
Case Number: 2025CV030465
Court: Arapahoe County District Court
Client: Multimedia Holdings Corporation d/b/a KUSA-9 News
Complaint Filed: Feb. 24, 2025
Background: In May 2024, a police officer in Aurora, Colorado, fatally shot 37-year-old Kilyn Lewis as law enforcement was taking him into custody in connection with an attempted homicide. Lewis, who was unarmed, had his hands up and was surrendering when he was shot, according to edited police body-worn camera footage released by the Aurora Police Department.
An investigation led by a local district attorney concluded that the officer who shot Lewis was justified in using deadly force and declined to pursue charges against him. The Aurora Police Department’s internal investigation also found that the officer did not violate department policy, KUSA-9 News reported.
But Lewis’s family has accused police of misconduct in a formal complaint submitted to the agency, and a report filed by an independent consent decree monitor for the city of Aurora found critical issues with respect to the confrontation between the police officers and Lewis. The report states that “less lethal options were not deployed [by the Aurora Police Department] in the interaction with Mr. Lewis,” and it questions whether the police officers at the scene could have used a different approach.
In October 2024, KUSA-9 News reporter Aaron Adelson submitted a public records request to the Aurora Police Department seeking all unedited bodycam footage connected with Lewis’ shooting under the state’s Enhancing Law Enforcement Integrity Act, which requires police to promptly release to the public all unedited bodycam footage that documents incidents in which officers are accused of misconduct. The police department denied the request, citing a Colorado law that protects criminal justice records.
In a second request filed in November 2024, Adelson again sought access to the recordings under the Integrity Act. The Aurora Police Department once again denied Adelson’s request, claiming, in part, that the Integrity Act did not apply because Adelson himself did not lodge a complaint of misconduct. Despite multiple follow-up requests, to date, police officials have only released edited footage of the incident.
KUSA-9 News, represented by Rachael Johnson, the Reporters Committee’s Local Legal Initiative attorney for Colorado, filed this lawsuit against the Aurora Police Department’s records manager, asking the court to order the department to immediately release the unedited bodycam recordings under the Integrity Act.
Filings:
2025-02-24: Complaint