College student shot five times by police while escaping knife attack sues

Despite a district attorney’s ruling that the shooting was justified, Maverick Lyon says officers ignored clear signs he was the hostage, and he is seeking to hold them and the city accountable.

A college student is suing the city of North Albany, Oregon, and two police officers after he was shot five times while fleeing a knife attack at his family’s home, The Independent reports.

Maverick Lyon, 21, was running out of the house on January 6 after his brother, John “Dakota” Lyon, 27, held him at knifepoint, the lawsuit says. It alleges officers Matt Thomas and Engle Diaz opened fire as Lyon ran out the back door with his hands raised, having dropped a knife. It also accuses officers of poor communication and of ignoring his father’s descriptions of what each brother was wearing.

“You shot the wrong guy – he was holding me hostage,” Lyon told officers as he lay bleeding, according to Ring doorbell footage cited in the suit.

He spent four weeks in hospital and lost part of his lungs, his appendix and his spleen. He missed a semester at St. Anselm College.

The Benton County District Attorney’s Office ruled in March that the officers were justified in using deadly force. Dakota pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping, weapons and coercion charges and was sentenced to 77 months in prison.