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The lawsuit seeks up to $12.5 million in damages and alleges officers at the scene were negligent in their tactics. The Oregon State Police are also defendants in the lawsuit.

The mother of a 26-year-old man fatally shot by police has alleged negligence by an Oregon State Police sergeant and others in a wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday, Feb. 23.

Tyler Holloway died Dec. 27, 2024. He had called 911 after someone had been shot and killed on property in a remote area of northwest Lane County, about 25 miles east of Yachats in the Oregon Coast Range.

The lawsuit, filed by Rhonda Proctor, states that Holloway and other residents of Prindel Creek Farm called 911 after a neighbor had shot their friend and then fled while armed with a handgun.

After that shooting, the lawsuit states, Holloway retrieved a handgun for his own protection. The lawsuit contends that law enforcement knew Holloway was armed. But three officers who arrived as part of a SWAT response opened fire after seeing Holloway with a gun in his hand, the lawsuit states.

“Tyler Holloway survived being shot at only to be killed by the help he waited 6½ hours to receive. Sneaking up on unsuspecting victims invites a hostile response, thus creating the very danger that took Tyler’s life,” Kevin Yolken, the attorney representing Holloway’s family, said in a statement.

The lawsuit, filed in Lane County Circuit Court, seeks up to $12.5 million in damages.

Along with allegations of negligence by individual officers, a news release announcing the lawsuit claimed the Oregon State Police employ what effectively amounts to a policy of “covert, military-style engagement with civilians on rural properties.” The lawsuit specifically alleges negligence because of the alleged state police practice of “deploying an ‘early insert’ team comprised of SWAT officers on foot without any hard cover or armored protection.”

Named as defendants in the suit along with the state and Lane County are Oregon State Police Sgt. Jamin Van Meter, described as directing the SWAT team, and three officers who fired at Holloway: Daniel Merritt, a senior trooper with the state police; Brandon RatheLeGurche, a trooper with the state police; and Taylor Trimboli, a Lane County Sheriff’s deputy.

The other shooting victim, Chris Clark Jr., died after being shot in the head. Everett Scott Fuller has been charged with second-degree murder and has a criminal trial set for May 27.

Much of the lawsuit details alleged “negligent tactical decisions,” including a failure of the SWAT officers directed by Van Meter to announce their presence upon seeing Holloway exit a shop building on the property.

The lawsuit states that Van Meter, was one of three troopers to fatally shoot an 18-year-old man, Sam Mullane, in the back in 2012 near Yachats, and the 27-page complaint also states that Van Meter “bragged about the paramilitary-style covert tactics” in a recruiting email to troopers for the state police SWAT sent after Holloway’s death.

The lawsuit alleges that state police “has failed to meaningfully investigate, discipline, or retrain Van Meter, instead retaining and promoting him to a leadership position and permitting his continued use of unsound tactics.”

Differing accounts

Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa, who is not a part of the lawsuit, wrote in a review of the shooting that, according to statements from involved officers, before any shots were fired, Merritt “announced ‘State Police’” and ordered a person holding what appeared to be a handgun to come to the officers’ location.

Parosa wrote: “It should be noted that heavy rainfall at the time made it more difficult to hear. Apparently, upon hearing Senior Trooper Merritt’s, the individual stopped, seemingly startled, turned toward Senior Trooper Merritt’s location, yelled something, raised his arm and fired a shot in Senior Trooper Merritt’s direction.”

Parosa concluded that Holloway “inadvertently created a mortal threat to the life” of an Oregon State Police trooper, and that, in response, officers fired shots at Holloway, killing him. The district attorney concluded that the officers who fired shots had no criminal responsibility for Holloway’s death.

The lawsuit, however, provides a different account of events. It makes no mention of any announcement to Holloway that officers were “State Police.”

Instead, the lawsuit says: “As Holloway was returning to the shop and nearing the doorway, one of the officers made a noise from the darkness, spooking Holloway.”

The lawsuit goes on to say that “predictably,” “Holloway turned around with his gun raised.” 

The lawsuit also describes the first shots as coming when officers “opened fire from their positions of cover in the darkness.”

“A bullet fatally struck Holloway through the heart as he tried to run into the shop, having fired a single round in return,” the lawsuit states.

Proctor, in a statement, said her son proudly served in the Army and was “thoughtful, loving, caring, loyal and deeply loved” by family and friends.

“Tyler’s loss is devastating for all of us. This tragedy never should have happened, and the police need to be accountable for their decisions that took an innocent victim’s life,” Proctor said.