Highway Patrol settles lawsuit over man’s death

The estate of a Nowata County man fatally shot by an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper during a foot chase has settled the case out of federal court for $175,000, according to documents.

Trooper Jerrod Martin killed Joshua Luke Stand during a 2014 encounter in which Stand held a knife in the small community of Delaware, six miles north of Nowata.

The civil rights lawsuit alleged that Martin used “objectively unreasonable and excessive deadly force” by shooting Stand, who “was armed only with a closed pocketknife,” had not threatened Martin and “posed no immediate threat of serious harm to anyone.”

In defense of Martin, the state attorney general’s office responded that Stand was a threat to Martin and others and that the trooper used “reasonable and necessary force.” Stand was “known to be unstable and violent” and did brandish a knife “in a threatening manner” toward Martin, his defense contended.

The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed last week by the plaintiff, according to court documents.

The Department of Public Safety agreed to pay $175,000 to Stand’s estate, according to terms of the settlement. Neither side admitted fault, and each party must bear its own costs and attorney fees. Martin and the state are released from all claims related to the shooting of Stand.

The shooting occurred the morning of June 16, 2014, after dispatchers received a call about a man walking in a street with a weapon, possibly a knife, according to a Highway Patrol official.

Martin, then 28, had been with the Highway Patrol for two years. Stand, 35, was a transient resident of Nowata County.

The civil rights lawsuit was filed June 15, 2016, by the law firm Smolen Smolen & Roytman.

Attorney Dan Smolen wrote in the complaint that Martin and most of the Delaware community knew Stand was mentally ill, which accounted for his “erratic and odd behavior.” He also cited two witnesses who reported seeing Stand at different points of the encounter with a closed pocketknife, rather than with a blade out.

The witness who saw the shooting said Stand did not charge at or threaten Martin, Smolen wrote.

“When Martin shot Stand multiple times, Mr. Stand was ‘armed’ only with a closed pocket knife and was standing at a safe distance from Trooper Martin across the street,” Smolen said. “Stand had not charged at Trooper Martin or threatened to harm him or anyone else.”

Several months before the lawsuit was filed, the Nowata County District Attorney declined to pursue criminal charges after determining the shooting to be justified.

In a four-page letter Aug. 8, 2014, District Attorney Kevin Buchanan said the evidence and “totality of circumstances” gave Martin a “reasonable apprehension” he was “in danger of serious bodily injury or death” at the moment when Stand pulled his knife from his pocket.

Buchanan wrote that it’s “undisputed and well documented” that Martin repeatedly ordered Stand to drop the knife during the encounter as Martin followed Stand on foot while requesting law enforcement assistance to safely take him into custody.

He said there were “one or more points” in which Stand turned and brandished the knife toward Martin during which Martin continued to follow Stand.

“Joshua Stand’s erratic behavior throughout this encounter, quite possibly enhanced by the level of methamphetamine in his system, only added to the unpredictability of the circumstances,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan’s letter notes that the Highway Patrol investigation he reviewed was only for criminal matters and did not examine compliance with policies and procedures nor civil liability. As such, he said his review should not be interpreted as expressing an opinion on whether policies and procedures were adhered to, or potential civil liability issues.