Family of Northern Cheyenne man suing federal government for wrongful death

The family of a Northern Cheyenne man is suing the federal government, namely the Bureau of Indian Affairs and two of its officers, for the death of Arlin Bordeaux.

The incident that led to the victim being shot in the back happened on or around Dec. 3, 2021, after Bordeaux, 29, had left his uncle’s house and wandered into a nearby yard. Alarmed by a possible intruder, the homeowner called the police to report someone trespassing.

When a BIA officer arrived, he told Bordeaux to get on the ground. Eventually, Bordeaux was subdued with a taser and handcuffs, according to the court filing in U.S. District Court. However, according to the same filing, when he tried to get up, Bordeaux, who was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed nearly 300 pounds, tripped and fell on an officer.

According to court documents, an officer pepper sprayed Bordeaux. He attempted to stand up again, and another officer yelled for Bordeaux to get on the ground. Then, court records say he tripped down some stairs and officers fired at Bordeaux, hitting him twice, once in the shoulder and once near the heart.

“An autopsy of Arlin’s body revealed the bullet wounds as well as a wound on the back of Arlin’s head consistent with a strike from a police baton,” the court documents said.

Meanwhile, attorneys working for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana have filed a response saying that Bordeaux had actively fought against the BIA officer for more than 15 minutes, including punching and kicking, and attempted to throw a propane barbecue grill at the officer.

As another officer arrived, “Bordeaux grabbed (the officer’s) taser, which was still active.” They maintain that Bordeaux moved toward them with the police taser.

Post-mortem autopsy results showed that Bordeaux had methamphetamine in his system, according to documents filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. His mother told investigators that Bordeaux had recently started using methamphetamine again.

“The United States is not liable because its agents acted in accordance with the applicable standard of care in engaging with Bordeaux as he escalated the situation,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “Bordeaux’s own actions resisting arrest, assaulting police officers, and threatening officers with an incapacitating weapon unquestionably constituted negligence on his part, and Bordeaux’s own negligence exceeds that of all defendants combined, if any.”

An investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana cleared the officer who fired the shots of any criminal wrongdoing in the case.

Bordeaux’s estate is being represented by former Montana District Court Judge Gregory Todd, and attorneys Tim Bechtold and John Heenan. The case alleges that the officers acted outside the rules and regulations of BIA law enforcement, and deprived Bordeaux of his civil rights. The estate also said that BIA’s actions amount to “deliberate indifference” and say the two officers were not properly trained or supervised. Finally, the lawsuit says that the BIA and federal officers violated Bordeaux’s constitutional rights by unreasonable searches and seizures, and depriving him of life and liberty.

The case is just another in a recent string of cases federal authorities have had to defend on Montana’s southern Indian reservations.

In 2019, The Billings Gazette reported a family member of a Lodge Grass man sued the federal government when a BIA officer killed Ruben Stewart, 36.

Native Americans are the most likely group to die from police shootings and 2.2 times more likely to be killed by police than white people, according to a Milwaukee National Public Radio story citing data from 2009 to 2019 from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2022, the Northern Cheyenne tribe sued the federal government for the lack of protection from violent crime on the reservation. The federal government maintains police and law enforcement jurisdiction on most of Montana’s tribal lands.

And later this Spring, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear an ongoing case that involves a former BIA officer, Dana Bullcoming, who was found guilty of raping a woman in her home, threatening to take away her children if she didn’t have sex with him. She later had a child because of the assault, and the court ordered Bullcoming to pay child support. While Bullcoming has already been convicted, the U.S. government is fighting the case, saying it shouldn’t be held liable for Bullcoming’s conduct.

The challenges surrounding law enforcement on tribal lands have become enough of an issue that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland visited Billings and Crow Reservation earlier this year to talk about law enforcement on tribal lands and the problem of missing and murdered indigenous people.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Montana declined to comment on this story.