Parents of Tigard teen shot by police file lawsuit

The Mental Health Association of Portland has followed the what happened to Lukus Glenn since 2006 on our web site - What Happened to Lukus Glenn.

The family of an 18-year-old Tigard man shot to death by police during a domestic disturbance in 2006 filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against the county, city and officers involved.

Hope Glenn, the mother of Lukus Glenn, filed the suit against Washington County, the two deputies who shot her son, the city of Tigard and a Tigard police officer.

There are two claims for relief in the lawsuit. Each seeks more than $7 million.

"We were forced to go ahead and file this to shed light on the events of that night," Hope Glenn said. "It's all been very hard and it just gets worse not better."

Spokesmen for the Washington County Sheriff's Office and the Tigard Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit.

A Washington County district attorney's office investigation into the shooting, completed in October 2006, called the incident "tragic" but "legally justified." The probe ultimately rejected Hope Glenn's call for a public review of the shooting.

The incident began about 3 a.m. Sept. 16, 2006, when Hope Glenn called 9-1-1 from her Tigard residence, saying her son was drunk, out of control and threatening the family. Three officers arrived minutes later to find Lukus Glenn outside his house holding a knife.

When Glenn refused to drop the weapon, Tigard police Officer Andrew Pastore shot him with nonlethal beanbags. As Glenn turned and moved back toward his house, where his family members were, Washington County sheriff's Deputies Mikhail Gerba and Tim Mateski opened fire with their service weapons, killing him.

An autopsy showed that two of the eight bullets that struck Glenn inflicted fatal injuries by severing large pelvic arteries. Nonfatal shots also struck Glenn in the legs, buttocks, lower back and right shoulder.

A medical examiner's report found that Glenn, a former high school soccer and football star, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.18 at the time of his death. Oregon's legal limit for driving is 0.08.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by Lake Oswego attorney Lawrence K. Peterson, says official accounts of the Sept. 16, 2006, shooting contained "glaring inconsistencies and self-contradictions that were never resolved."

The official account of the shooting, for instance, said the beanbag rounds fired at Glenn had no effect and he continued to "act out" after they were shot. The lawsuit says, however, that an audio record of the events shows the lethal fire was discharged almost simultaneously to the beanbags.

The officers' failure to use appropriate crisis intervention techniques, to engage Glenn in conversation rather than relying on yelled commands and to use the beanbag shotgun in a manner that moved Glenn toward the doors of his residence, among other factors, all contributed to his death, according to the lawsuit.

RIP Lukus Glenn


EXTRA - From AP.com, August 13 2008
EXTRA - For all previous stories about what happened to Lukus Glenn from the Oregonian CLICK HERE.
EXTRA - Lukus Glenn family files wrongful death suit, Tigard Times August 13 2008
EXTRA - Myspace - group memorial for Lukus David Glenn