A college athlete in Oregon who was shot multiple times by police while he was escaping a dangerous encounter with his brother alleges excessive force and negligence in a federal civil rights case filed Wednesday.Maverick Lyon, a college lacrosse player, was home in Albany on Jan.6 when his brother, who had relapsed into drug use, held him at knifepoint, attorneys with Stritmatter Law said in the suit.
Their father called Albany police after he saw the altercation on a security video in the family’s home.Lyon grabbed another knife in self-defense during the encounter and managed to escape through the back door, the lawsuit says.
According to the suit, after Lyon dropped the knife, police shot him at least five times.His injuries led to four weeks in the hospital and serious operations.
The lawsuit says Lyon was shot even though he followed police commands.Benton County said in response to an NBC News request that it does not comment on pending litigation.
The city of Albany, which is also named as a defendant, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Lyon’s attorneys said in a statement that after the shooting, surgeons “removed half of his right lung, his spleen, his appendix, and performed extensive reconstructive surgery on his digestive system.”His parents, David and Laura Lyon, said in a statement: “I have always believed that when you call 911, help is coming.
I never imagined that making that call would leave me wondering if my son was going to survive.”“Our family has been through something no family should ever have to experience.I called the police that day because I wanted to protect Maverick, and instead, the very people I called for help ended up nearly taking his life,” they said.
Maverick Lyon is a student at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.Courtesy Stritmatter LawAccording to the lawsuit, the family’s ordeal began after Jan.5, when David and Laura Lyon told a Benton County probation officer that their elder ...