A federal appeals court is allowing the Columbus police union to get involved in a lawsuit against the city of Columbus and Police Chief Elaine Bryant.
The civil suit was filed by the family of Donovan Lewis last year. Lewis, a 20-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by former Columbus police officer Ricky Anderson in Aug. 2022 during an early morning raid.
Police were trying to arrest Lewis for active warrants. He was laying in bed holding a vape pen when he was shot. Anderson was charged with murder and reckless homicide a year later. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Anderson is expected to stand trial sometime next year.
Lewis' family alleges in the civil lawsuit that the Columbus police department has a culture of excessive force, particularly against people of color. The case outlines steps Lewis' family wants the city to take, including creating a new disciplinary system for police and preventing officers who retire in bad standing or during an ongoing investigation from receiving their pension.
Brian Steel, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge 9, said those changes would impact the police union's contract.
"We now have a right to intervene and defend our contract. This lawsuit from the Donovan Lewis estate went far beyond one incident," Steel said. "It directly challenges provisions in our CBA, which is our collective bargaining agreement."
A federal district court initially rejected the FOP's request to intervene in the case, saying the FOP "lacks a substantial legal interest" in the case. That court decided the city of Columbus could adequately represent itself, but encouraged the city and Lewis' family to include the FOP if they tried to reach a settlement.
The FOP appealed. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit judges sided with the FOP and reversed the decision last week.
"We cannot have a third party making decisions that remove agreements made between the police union and the city of Columbus. That is not the third party's role, and we're glad the Court of Appeals recognized that," Steel said.
"If the FOP wants to spend money to be part of this lawsuit, I think that's up to them," said Ben Cooper, a partner at the law firm Cooper-Elliott, which is representing Lewis' family. "It doesn't change the fact that one of its officers shot Donovan in the blink of an eye, and Donovan was completely unarmed."
