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Murphy – Lawyers for a Bear Paw couple who were fired on as they tried to surrender unarmed to a SWAT unit in December have filed a lawsuit in federal court.
The 195-page lawsuit was filed on June 20 in the Western District of North Carolina, Asheville Division, U.S. District Court, on behalf of Jason Kloepfer and his wife, Alison Mahler. They are represented by Raleigh attorney W. Ellis Boyle of Ward & Smith, P.A.; Murphy lawyer Zeyland McKinney Jr. of McKinney Law Firm, P.A.; and Murphy lawyer Beverly Cook of Cook Law Firm.
The couple is demanding a jury trial. They are asking for compensation for actual damages in excess of $75,000; court costs; unspecified punitive damages; and any further relief the court deems just and proper. Named in the lawsuit were the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Ohio Casualty Insurance Co.
Individuals named in the lawsuit were (by agency):
- Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Dustin Smith, Chief Deputy Justin Jacobs, Capt. David Williams, Lt. Milton Teasdale, Lt. Mitchell Morgan, Lt. Drew Payne, Sgt. Dennis More, Sgt. Cody Williams, Detective Nolan Queen, Deputy Jessica Stiles, Deputy J.T. Gray, Deputy Jason Hall, Deputy Don Latulipe, Deputy Adam Erickson and Deputy Paul Fry.
- Cherokee County government: Darryl Brown, attorney.
- Cherokee Indian Police Department: Police Chief Carla Neaudeau, Assistant Chief Joshua Taylor, Lt. Detective Roger Neaudeau Jr., Patrol Lt. Neil Ferguson, SWAT Commander Scott Buttery, Detective Sgt. Jesse Ramirez, Special Operations Sgt. Jeff Smith, Detective Dustin Wolfe, Detective Cody McKinney, Special Operations Officer Nathan Messer, Special Operations Officer Andrew Sampson and Patrol Officer Chris Harris.
Boyle said the lawsuit is long and detailed and, thanks to the surveillance video and other “compelling testimony,” he thinks his clients have a good case.
Defendants have 30 days to answer the complaint, but it may take up to two years to come to trial – if ever. The lengthy list of defendants is intended to “ID the people who were there who did something wrong,” Boyle said.
Kloepfer and Mahler have been avoiding their Bear Paw property since the December 2022 raid. They returned for one day in late spring to be interviewed by a German TV news program, but have otherwise stayed away.
They fear they will be tracked down and killed by law enforcement, the motive being to avoid the lawsuit, Kloepfer said.
“We’ve been floating around,” he said. “We’re truly afraid for our lives.”
Here is a portion of the statement of the case contained in the lawsuit.
“Cherokee County Sheriff’s (CCSD) deputies and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian (EBCI) police tried to kill Jason Kloepfer and Alison Mahler in their own home without provocation or justification at 4:57 a.m. on December 13, 2022,” according to the filing.
“Jason and Ali have their own independent video footage that shows the officers illegally shot at both of them and then lied to frame Jason. They tried to cover it up. Without that independent video footage, these officers would have gotten away with it.
“Around 11:00 p.m. on December 12, 2022, a neighbor calls 911 and reports hearing noises from Jason’s home. She claims she has video proof to support her complaints. Around 11:17 p.m., 3 Cherokee County Sheriff deputies enter Jason and Ali’s Property. The deputies do not bother to even ask her to see it. The deputies fail to investigate the neighbor’s allegations for hours. She has no proof.
“When they arrive, these deputies grab assault rifles and patrol the yard. They see no signs of any ongoing or past criminal activity. The lights are off. The blinds are pulled down. They cannot see inside. Nobody comes outside. They have no idea if Jason and Ali are home. Jason and Ali sleep through the night, inside their home.
“The deputies prop up a ladder and peep into the garage. They try looking through windows of the home and test the doors. They have no basis to remain there after a few minutes.
“Instead of leaving immediately when they have no legal authority to trespass, they inexplicably escalate the situation, patrolling the yard with long guns for hours. Despite seeing no evidence of crimes, they fabricate baseless stories of hostages and standoffs. They call their leadership and relay these stories.
“When Sheriff Smith and his leadership team hear about his deputies loitering in Jason and Ali’s yard without permission, they do not order them to leave. Instead, they double down on the errors and call the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian SWAT team to leave the reservation and occupy Jason and Ali’s property in Cherokee County. Internal communications confirm that they have no idea if there is a hostage or barricaded subject situation.
“Over the next 4 hours, midnight to 4:00 a.m., several other deputies, including most of the leadership, join the original 3 deputies in the yard, as Jason and Ali sleep inside. If they really think Jason hurt Ali, they should find her immediately and get her medical attention. The video shows that they take no action to find Ali and ensure that she is not hurt or bleeding to death.
“Finally, around 2:00 a.m., the first deputy on the scene walks the approximately 5 minutes it takes to go speak to the neighbor to try to verify her report. The neighbor shows him video footage that does not support her allegations she made to 911. At that point, the Sheriff’s Department knows that the neighbor has no proof. Her original claims are false.
“As soon as the officers know that the neighbor’s allegations are false, all the officers should immediately leave. While their siege was inappropriate – actually unlawful – up to that point, at least nobody has illegally shot at Jason and Ali by then. The story should end here with no lasting harm.
“Instead of fixing the mistakes, after learning the neighbor’s claims are devoid of the proof the neighbor claims, Lt. Teasdale presents the original, now disproved, allegations to a magistrate. Lt. Teasdale swears an oath saying the neighbor’s story is true and video evidence exists to prove it. That is false.
“Lt. Teasdale is at the Sheriff’s Department in Murphy. He never visits the scene or speaks to the neighbor. He never even speaks with the deputy who views her video. Based on this false information, provided under oath by Lt. Teasdale who has not verified the truth, the magistrate issues a search warrant at 2:14 a.m.
“As the EBCI SWAT team assembles in the Cherokee County Sheriff’s office around 3:00 a.m., Lt. Teasdale briefs them about the situation. The Sheriff participates, too. They describe Jason as having mental health problems. No law enforcement officer has so much as spoken to either Jason or Ali at this point. They do not even know if Jason and Ali are home. Yet they prime the SWAT team for an attack.
“Around 4:00 a.m., the Sheriff and Lt. Teasdale ride out to the scene with the SWAT team in an armored vehicle. Shortly after arriving, the SWAT team illegally breaks into Jason and Ali’s home, without knocking or announcing or seeking permission, and throws a robot drone inside. That drone provides real-time, streaming audio and video footage to the SWAT team outside. The drone rolls around for a few minutes, shining a light and streaming footage to the SWAT team from inside the home. Then the drone rolls towards the bedroom, waking up Jason and Ali.
“The video footage the SWAT team sees on their monitor outside shows, unequivocally and in real time, that Ali is not only alive, but unharmed. Jason and Ali are sleeping peacefully in the same bed until the drone disrupts them. Even ignoring everything leading up to this point, as soon as Jason and Ali arise from their slumber together out of the same bed, this is – unquestionably – not a hostage situation. A couple sleeping together in their own bed in their own home at 4:57 a.m. is not a crime. As soon as those images are seen on the drone’s video stream, the throng of 25 or so officers assembled in the yard has no basis to invade the home, much less shoot at Ali, the purported hostage, and Jason, an unarmed citizen.
“Any pre-textual claim of a hostage situation, unfounded from the start, evaporates when the SWAT team sees this live streaming video. Instead of immediately apologizing and leaving the private property, Sgt. Dore speaks on a PA system outside after they wake Jason and Ali up. Sgt. Dore does not introduce who he is or announce any affiliation with the Sheriff. Instead, he instructs Jason to walk outside and talk to the people in the yard.
“Jason and Ali walk from the bedroom towards the front door inside their home, cutting lights on as they go. Jason picks up the drone in his right hand when he gets near it. He expresses confusion about what it is. It is not his and should not be in his home. He carries it in his hand as he opens the door. The drone sends a live stream of video footage and the SWAT team watches the video monitor outside as Jason picks up the drone and walks to the front door inside his home.
“The SWAT team members wear intercom devices on their helmets. They use the intercom to talk with each other during the raid. Jason opens the front door, walks out, and holds both hands up in the air above his head, as instructed. The SWAT team knows that Jason does not have a gun in his hands when he opens the front door because they see Jason holding the drone as they watch the streaming video and talk to each other on their intercom. The SWAT team also see he does not have a gun because he is directly in front of them with his hands held up in the air.
“Despite knowing all of this, about 4 seconds later, after Jason walks out with his hands held high in the air above his head, at least 3, and possibly more, SWAT team members open fire on Jason. The SWAT team fires at least 12, maybe more, bullets from their assault rifles from about 65 to 80 feet away. These bullets rip through the occupied home with reckless abandon, slamming through walls and curtains to the back of the bedroom. At least one EBCI SWAT team member admits that Jason did not have a gun in his hands when they open fire on Ali and Jason.
“At least 2 bullets slash through Jason’s body, tearing through his chest and his left arm. Jason collapses in pain and confusion, falling back into Ali, who stands directly behind him. Bullets hiss past Ali’s head and body, even after Jason collapses to the ground. The SWAT team claims that they think Ali is a hostage, yet they shoot at her, too, missing by mere inches.
“The SWAT team rushes the home as Ali cowers near the door with her hands up, protecting Jason with her body, begging them not to shoot her or Jason any more. The SWAT team steps over Jason in the doorway as he lays gasping and crying out. Jason asks them repeatedly “why did you shoot me, I don’t have a gun.” They do not answer. The SWAT team pushes into the house and bedroom looking for any excuse to justify their onslaught. They find nothing to excuse their unprovoked, illegal use of deadly force.
“Miraculously, Jason survives the ambush. After poking around Jason and Ali’s home as Jason bleeds on the ground in the doorway, the SWAT team finally renders him aid. One of them grabs Jason’s arm and drags him on his back down the plank to the cold ground. They arrest Ali, the alleged victim, handcuff her, and force her to march away and sit in the back of a patrol car in the cold without proper clothing. Ali worries Jason is dying, but they block her from offering him comfort and care. She has no idea what happens to Jason for hours.
“After the shooting, the Sheriff finally walks up from lurking off in the shadows. In the Sheriff’s press release the next day, he falsely claims he is not present at the scene, and only obtained information after the fact from the SWAT team. He also falsely accuses Jason of arguing with the officers, in an attempt to rationalize the illegal shooting. Only later, after Jason’s video footage from inside his home proves the truth, does the Sheriff recant his original, false story in which he blames Jason.
“The officers on the scene eventually call EMS to provide medical care to Jason. After delays, EMS drives Jason to a Tennessee hospital for treatment. The bullets lacerate his liver, cut through his stomach and the lining of his heart, crack ribs, and scatter shrapnel in his chest. He requires immediate trauma surgery, almost dies, and spends several days in the hospital for more treatment.
“Ali remains in the Sheriff’s custody for hours. They remove her from her home to the Sheriff’s office, in custody as if she is under arrest. They do not provide her with any information about Jason, leaving her to fear that he is dead. Hours later, they take her back to the property, but refuse to give her access to her home or her things inside. She only gets her phone to check on Jason after several hours pass.
“Even though it is obvious after the shooting that Jason has not committed any crimes, 2 different deputies swear out 2 arrest warrants for Jason a few hours after they try to kill him. These 2 deputies provide demonstrably false information to the magistrate to obtain these arrest warrants. When Jason leaves the hospital days later, the Sheriff forces him to go to the jail and arrests Jason on those warrants.
“On January 18, 2023, Jason releases the video from inside his home. This video proves indisputably that he and Ali did nothing wrong leading up to the surprise attack on his front steps. The video proves that the Sheriff’s press release is not true. The video proves that the arrest warrants are false accusations, obtained by sworn testimony given under oath by law enforcement officers to a judicial officer.
“The Sheriff releases a second press release a few days after Jason’s video proves the first press release is false. In his second press release, the Sheriff admits that the first press release contains false, defamatory stories about Jason. Even after releasing this second press release, the false criminal charges against Jason remain for another 6 weeks. Not until Jason serves subpoenas seeking information to expose the cover up do they finally dismiss the false charges against him.
“Neither the Sheriff nor the EBCI have taken required actions to appropriately investigate the shooting and other illegal actions by the officers under their control. No internal reprimand or suspension, or even just policy changes or retraining, has occurred in either agency related to these officers’ illegal actions. No criminal charges have been brought against any of the officers related to their illegal actions. The ongoing cover up continues to occur right now.
“Jason and Ali’s lives are forever upended by these events. They live in fear that the powerful government forces will finish the job, and murder them, to complete the cover up. The physical scars on Jason’s body are obvious, but the mental and emotional scars cut even deeper, and have not begun to heal.”