Despite multiple witnesses telling police that Stephan Long had acted in self-defense when he shot and killed two white assailants who had attacked him during a road rage altercation, Denver prosecutors charged the Black man with two counts of first-degree murder.
Long ended up spending four months in jail and an additional 10 months on house arrest with an ankle monitor before prosecutors dismissed the charges for “insufficient evidence.”
Last week, Long filed a lawsuit against the two Denver police officers who arrested him and labeled him the suspect, as well as the city and county of Denver, who followed through on the prosecution, accusing them of violating his Fourth and 14th Amendment rights, selective prosecution, and unlawful arrest.
The lawsuit claims Long would never have been charged had he been white and the assailants Black, listing an example from a previous unrelated case where a white man chased down a Black boy who had stolen his car and shot him to death, despite being told to back off the chase by a 911 dispatcher.
“This experience has been the most devastating chapter of my life — not just for me, but for my entire family,” Long said in a statement released to local media last week.
“Being wrongfully charged with two counts of first-degree murder changed not just my life but also the ones closest to me, my family. I was jailed and unable to be with my wife and our two young infants, leaving them behind while I fought for the chance to prove my innocence. The emotional and physical toll of that separation is something no innocent person should ever have to endure.”
According to the lawsuit filed on June 12 by Zachary Warren of the Highlands Law Firm in Denver:
Several bystanders were also brought to DPD headquarters for questioning. The bystanders relayed that they witnessed the two men get out of their vehicle and violently assault the Plaintiff in his vehicle. At no point in time did any witness make a statement indicating the Plaintiff was the aggressor; instead, each of the eyewitnesses consistently described a scenario in which the Plaintiff was clearly the victim of a horrifying and ruthless violent assault.
Despite overwhelming evidence, including the Plaintiff’s testimony and the testimony of several bystanders, the Plaintiff was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Denver and the Individual Defendants should have quickly ascertained, based on the available evidence, that the Plaintiff was acting in self-defense, yet allowed biases about the Plaintiff’s race to improperly influence the decision to continue to pursue two first-degree murder charges.
Road Rage Incident
The incident took place on June 13, 2023, after Long had signed a lease agreement for an apartment along with his wife and two children. Long, then 25, was driving northbound on I-25 while his wife and two children followed behind in another car.
Long had been talking to his wife on the phone when the two white brothers, Damon and Blake Lucas, who were 22 and 21, respectively, apparently became annoyed because he had been driving too slowly, pulled up next to him, and yelled at him.
The claim states that Long attempted to exit the interstate but the other car pulled in front of him and came to a stop, pinning his car where he was unable to move.
Blake then hopped out of the car and ran up to the driver’s side of Long’s car, punching him in the face repeatedly through the open window before Long shot him dead.
Damon, who had been driving, then hopped out of the car and ran up to the driver’s side window as Long was trying to drive away, so Long shot him dead as well.
A Denver police officer in an unmarked car heard the shots and followed Long as he drove away, notifying other officers who arrested him a couple of miles away.
Despite early indications that it was a clear case of self-defense, the Denver District Attorney’s Office charged Long with two counts of first-degree murder, stating the following in its probable cause statement:
The suspect related that he was driving north on I-25 when a vehicle drives next to him and begins yelling at him. This vehicle pulls in front of him and cuts him off. Soon after, the passenger in the vehicle that cuts off the suspect exits his vehicle and approaches the suspect.
The male begins grabbing and hitting the suspect through his open driver’s window. The suspect grabs his handgun and shoots the male (victim on northbound I-25 under 6th Ave). The suspect related that the driver of the vehicle that cut him off also exited and approached his driver’s side.
The suspect drove off and this person held onto his open driver’s window while traveling north on the highway. The suspect then shot this person (victim on 8th Ave exit ramp) who fell off the vehicle. The suspect then drove to the area of W 13th Ave and Meade St where he was contacted and detained by police.
He remained in jail without bond for four months as his family sought help from the Denver Justice Project, a nonprofit organization focused on criminal justice reform.
“If my son were white and two non-white men attacked him, he likely would not be in jail. He may never have even been arrested,” Long’s mother, Stephanie Clifton, told local media in 2023.
And she is probably right, considering how a white man named Jack Reed, with a history of impersonating police, was never arrested or charged for shooting and killing a 12-year-old Black boy named Elias Armstrong on Feb. 5, 2023, after chasing him down in the car Armstrong had allegedly stolen from him.
According to the lawsuit:
Even if Denver and the Individual Defendants needed time to ascertain that Plaintiff acted in self-defense, 14 months is far too long and evidences a racial bias in continued prosecution, particularly given the data compiled and published by the Denver DA’s Office.
Where white individuals like Jack Reed are credited with acting in self-defense despite the available evidence showing otherwise, Black individuals, including the Plaintiff, who are otherwise similarly-situated, are assumed to have committed premeditated murder, even where the available evidence makes clear that such charges are not warranted.
Charges Dismissed
Denver prosecutors dismissed one charge of first-degree murder against Long in October 2023 and dismissed the second first-degree murder charge in August 2024.
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann issued the following statement to local media, citing that Long had a “valid self-defense claim.”
After a careful and comprehensive review of all the evidence in the case — which included numerous consultations with members of my office — and after applying Colorado law to the evidence, I have concluded that we could not prove Mr. Long’s guilt to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
The evidence establishes a strong and valid self-defense claim pursuant to Colorado law. As a result, we will ask the court to dismiss the remaining charges against Mr. Long. This was an extremely difficult and heart-wrenching decision but, ultimately, in my opinion, the correct one.
McCann also cited a valid self-defense claim in Reed’s case, but it took her less than 14 days to arrive at the decision instead of 14 months.
But now that he has filed the lawsuit, it appears the momentum is finally on his side to seek justice.
“This wasn’t just a legal fight, it was a trauma that tore through every corner of our lives,” Long said in his statement to local media.
“We all paid the price of suffering from a system that got it wrong. While I’m beyond blessed and grateful to be home now, nothing will give us back the time we lost or undo the damage that was done to my family.”
