Denver will pay $225,000 to settle a lawsuit from a couple who say city police officers pulled over the wrong car in RiNo, pointed guns at them, and opened fire before realizing their mistake. Plaintiffs Jessica Sjostrom and Rex Hickman sued over a May 2024 stop, alleging officers surrounded their maroon Mercury and shot at it while looking for a different vehicle.
What the council approved
The City Council quietly signed off on the settlement as a consent-agenda item on May 11, authorizing a $225,000 payment to Kosloski Law, PLLC, to resolve Sjostrom et al. v. Malone et al., Case No. 2025CV030266, according to the City and County of Denver. The money is slated to come from the city’s “liability claims” appropriation, and meeting records note the item was cleared for council consideration at the Mayor-Council meeting on May 5.
How the stop unfolded
Officers were responding to a 911 call about a man in a red Saturn who allegedly threatened someone and tried to run him over. Not long after, police stopped a maroon Mercury at a red light at Brighton Boulevard and 29th Street, according to prior reporting. Sjostrom and Hickman say officers, including Officer Kirk Malone, rushed the car with weapons drawn, and that Malone fired a shot during the encounter.
“They jumped out with their guns drawn, and in an instant – boom – just pulled the trigger right at us,” Hickman told 9NEWS.
Settlement, trial and city payouts
The lawsuit alleges the officer’s round hit a nearby patio umbrella instead of the couple. Court records show the case had been set for trial in April before the parties settled, according to The Denver Post. Councilwoman Shontel Lewis told The Denver Post that, counting this agreement and other recent cases, the city had racked up about $784,000 in police-related settlements so far this year.
What the resolution says, and what it does not
The council paperwork spells out only the cash payment to the plaintiffs’ attorneys. It does not list any non-monetary terms, disciplinary steps or formal admissions of wrongdoing, so the civil dispute closes without a public finding of liability. The Legistar resolution routes the money through the liability-claims appropriation and identifies Kosloski Law, PLLC as the payee, in line with the city’s meeting documents…