A federal judge in Oregon ruled a lawsuit filed by the estate of a man shot and killed by a Portland Police officer in 2022 can proceed to trial.
Around 8:20 p.m. on July 27, 2022, police were called to a Southeast Portland neighborhood after they received reports of a man with a gun who was behaving erratically.
Aaron Stanton fired gunshots into the air with a handgun and semi-automatic rifle, while his six year-old daughter — identified in court records as ‘A.S.’ — stood nearby. Stanton was then shot and killed by Portland Police officer Joshua Dyk.
FILE - A Portland police vehicle sits in Portland, Ore., on Monday, Oct. 8, 2025.
Eli Imadali / OPB
A Multnomah County grand jury previously cleared Dyk of criminal charges. The civil lawsuit seeks financial damages.
Accounts differ about where Stanton was pointing his gun before he was shot.
Attorneys for Stanton’s estate cite a neighbor who said they saw him pointing his gun up at the sky. At least one police officer on the scene said Stanton may have been pointing the gun at himself, while others say he was pointing the gun at Portland police.
In previous court filings, attorneys for the city argued Dyk “fired one shot from his rifle to protect those officers and any neighbors that were in the houses near the officers.” The city of Portland sought to get a lawsuit filed by Stanton’s estate tossed out.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Adrienne Nelson found there were enough factual disputes for a jury to weigh and consider the evidence.
In her ruling, Nelson declined to toss out claims Dyk used excessive force, “the Court can only conclude that whether Dyk saw Mr. Stanton point his gun at officers is genuinely disputed.”
FILE - Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse, a federal courthouse in Portland, Ore., in July 2023.
Caden Perry / OPB
Nelson rejected the city’s claims that Officer Dyk was entitled to qualified immunity.
“Instances of officers firing on armed and sometimes erratic individuals at the first opportunity and without warning is an unfortunately common fact pattern, and one that federal courts have consistently found to be in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” Nelson found.
Attorneys for Stanton’s estate said they appreciated the opinion and looked forward to trial.
“Contrary to officer testimony, Mr. Stanton did not level the gun, nor point it at any officers,” attorneys for Stanton wrote in previous court filings.
After he was shot, Stanton’s six-year-old child told family that police officers told her that her father “died of suicide” and “he did this to himself,” attorneys for Stanton’s estate wrote.
Attorneys for the city responded: “At worst, it may be an insensitive way to explain to a little girl what happened.”
Nelson called the city’s explanation a “gross mischaracterization.”
“A reasonable jury could conclude from evidence in the record that the City’s officers lied to A.S. by telling her that her father killed himself in order to deflect responsibility from themselves,” Nelson wrote.
Attorneys for the city of Portland did not return OPB’s request for comment on Nelson’s ruling.
