Attorney Ellis Boyle is determined to secure justice for his client, unjustly shot by Cherokee Tribal police in his own home.
This comes amid reports that special prosecutors won't charge the Cherokee Indian Police SWAT members or Cherokee County Sheriff's deputies involved in the December 2022 shooting of the unarmed man.
Speaking to Asheville's ABC 13 News, Ellis conveyed his client's distress.
"As you can imagine, it shakes your faith in the system when law enforcement officers who were sworn to uphold peace and law show up at your house for no reason, and when they finally wake you up at 4:57 in the morning, they got shot.”
In an interview with Smoky Mountain News, Ellis elaborated:
"We think that the law enforcement involved committed many crimes and lied about our client and tried to set him up for prosecuting him when he committed no crimes.”
“It’s a crying shame that this is what the justice system is in America.”
Officers fired off 15 rounds from their assault rifles, striking Mr. Kloepfer twice in the chest and arm. Then, those same officers charged the victim with two crimes falsely claiming Mr. Kloepfer engaged in a "verbal altercation" with them. Those charges were later dropped after video footage from inside the home showed Mr. Kloepfer complying with police orders and walking out his front door with his hands up. They opened fire and shot him moments later.
Ellis filed a civil lawsuit back in June, naming 29 defendants from both the EBCI and CCSO. Together, they face more than 200 claims, according to the publication.
“The civil case is plowing ahead full steam,” Boyle said. “We are in discovery, and now is when the fun stuff happens. Now is when the truth is extracted, and eventually brought to the light to the public. Because apparently that’s not going to happen in the criminal justice system.”
ABC News 9, a Tennessee-based station, provides access to the complete civil rights lawsuit, demonstrating the case's significance beyond North Carolina. The trial is scheduled to begin later in 2025 in the Western District of North Carolina.
