Judge orders Aurora Police Department to release unedited bodycam footage of fatal police shooting

A Colorado judge has ordered the Aurora Police Department to release all unedited police-worn body camera videos capturing the fatal shooting of an unarmed man last year, concluding that police officials withheld the full audio and video footage in violation of state law.

In a 13-page decision issued on Monday, Judge Benjamin Todd Figa of the Arapahoe County District Court sided with arguments made by attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on behalf of KUSA-9 News in a lawsuit filed in February. The lawsuit alleged that the Aurora Police Department violated Colorado’s Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act by refusing to turn over bodycam footage of the police shooting of 37-year-old Kilyn Lewis in response to 9 News’ public records requests. 

The ruling makes this the latest case in which Rachael Johnson, the Reporters Committee’s Local Legal Initiative attorney for Colorado, has successfully argued for the release of police bodycam footage under the relatively new Integrity Act, which requires police to promptly disclose to the public all unedited bodycam footage that documents incidents in which officers are accused of misconduct.

“We are pleased that the court has ordered the release of all the body camera footage, which will help the public better understand the circumstances surrounding Lewis’s shooting at the hands of the police,” Johnson said. “The Integrity Act was passed to increase law enforcement accountability, but we can only achieve that goal if the law is interpreted, as it was here, in a way that maximizes police transparency.”

An Aurora police officer fatally shot Lewis last May as law enforcement was taking him into custody in connection with an alleged attempted homicide. Lewis, who was unarmed, had his hands up and was surrendering when he was shot, according to edited police bodycam 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 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.

Last October, KUSA-9 News reporter Aaron Adelson submitted a request to the Aurora Police Department seeking all unedited body camera footage connected with Lewis’s shooting under the Integrity Act. The police department denied the request, citing a Colorado law that protects certain criminal justice records. 

Adelson filed a second request for the videos the following month, but the police department once again denied it, claiming, in part, that the Integrity Act did not apply because Adelson himself did not lodge a complaint of misconduct.

In KUSA-9 News’ lawsuit filed in February, Johnson argued that the police department had violated the Integrity Act by releasing only edited versions of bodycam videos. In order to fully comply with the law, she argued, the police department must turn over the full, unedited footage. 

Judge Figa agreed. 

In his ruling, the judge did not buy the police department’s narrow legal interpretation of the law, specifically its definitions of the words “incident” and “unedited.” He focused much of his decision on the legislative history of the Integrity Act, which favors KUSA-9 News’ reading of the law.

“Colorado’s Law Enforcement Integrity Act and the 2021 Amendments to LEIA require law enforcement agencies to release, upon request, all unedited video and audio recordings of an incident of police officer misconduct, including those from body-worn cameras,” Judge Figa concluded. “The Court determines Aurora has denied 9News’ requests in violation of LEIA by providing only select portions of the body-worn camera footage.”

The police department has until June 16 to either turn over the records or appeal the court’s ruling.

Check out KUSA-9 News’ story to learn more about this ruling. The full decision can be found below.