Parents sue Riverton Police officer who killed son during traffic stop for use of excessive force

Editor’s note: A lawsuit only portrays one side of a story.

RIVERTON, Utah (ABC4) — The parents of a man who was killed during a traffic stop after a 4th of July fireworks show last year have filed a lawsuit against Riverton Police and the officers involved in his death, alleging that excessive force was used and that police tampered with evidence.

On July 4, 2024, Ryan Ludeman, 23, left the Riverton fireworks show in a side-by-side vehicle, and he collided with a car, swiping it. Riverton Police officers pulled Ludeman over, and they suspected that alcohol had been involved, so they requested Ludeman perform a field sobriety test.

According to the lawsuit, Ludeman refused, and when officers attempted to arrest him, Ludeman was holding a pocketknife. After a struggle, Ludeman dropped the knife, and an officer shot Ludeman twice in the neck and then once in the head, killing him.

His parents, Luke and Janelle Ludeman, have filed a lawsuit against the officers involved in his death and the Riverton Police Department. The suit alleges that the officer used excessive force and violated the first amendment, that the Riverton Police Department was complicit in his death with inadequate policies and training for officers regarding deadly force, and that the officers involved manipulated the scene and falsified evidence.

In April of 2025, after conducting an independent Officer Involved Critical Incident (OICI) Review, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill declined to file criminal charges in the case. The lawsuit alleges that falsified evidence was given to the DA in the course of their OICI review.

The Ludemans have requested a jury trial in this case, and they are seeking punitive damages, alleging that the defendants’ actions were motivated by “evil motive and intent” and involved “reckless or callous indifference to Ryan’s federally protected rights.” They are seeking at least $30 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Details from the lawsuit

First, the lawsuit alleges that the officer who shot Ryan used excessive force, violating the fourth amendment. In the case of a suspect being armed with a knife, a law enforcement officer cannot use deadly force unless the suspect charges the officer making slicing or stabbing motions towards the officer. According to the suit, Ludeman only held the knife in his right hand, and he did not charge at the officer or make any motions towards him.

Additionally, before using deadly force, an officer must give some kind of warning. The lawsuit cites body camera footage that shows that the officer did not issue any warning, and that he shot Ludeman three times at close range after Ludeman had dropped the knife and was forced into an all-fours position beneath the officer several feet away from the knife.

The first two shots to Ludeman’s neck were survivable, and the lawsuit states that he was completely incapacitated by them. The officer allegedly paused for a second before shooting Ludeman a third time in the back of the head. With that evidence, the lawsuit argues that the use of deadly force was “objectively unreasonable” and violated Ludeman’s fourth amendment rights.

Second, the suit states that Riverton Police Department’s policies and conduct were “a direct link in Ryan’s death,” and that they did not comply with Tenth Circuit Fourth Amendment protocol. Riverton’s force policies were purchased from a company and were intended to be a starting point for local departments to develop.

These policies did not include language about deadly force in relation to a suspect holding a knife, and there was no requirement for officers to withhold deadly force after an initial threat has passed. The policies also do not comply with industry standards, according to the suit.

Based on these policies, the lawsuit claims that the officer who killed Ludeman was not properly trained. He also did not search Ludeman for any weapons before attempting to take Ludeman into custody, which goes against proper search procedures.

“Knowing that [the officer] would be simultaneously armed and improperly trained to kill without training in alternate uses of force and de-escalation, Riverton was deliberately indifferent to the deaths that would necessarily follow,” the lawsuit states.

Finally, the lawsuit states that Riverton Police officers began “manipulating the scene and falsifying evidence” immediately after Ludeman’s death. The officer who killed Ludeman allegedly moved Ludeman closer to the location of the pocketknife on the ground after his death. Another officer reportedly told EMS employees to move Ludeman’s body without prompting from EMS, and they moved him even closer to the knife.

That officer had been involved in a police shooting earlier that year, so the lawsuit argues that he should have known how to behave in an officer-involved shooting investigation. He also muted his bodycam while he took photographs of Ludeman’s body.

No photographs were taken of the body before it was moved closer to the knife, other than footage from the bodycam. Other officers on the scene did not intervene, until another officer arrived on scene and attempted to turn the bodycam’s microphone back on.

Those false photos were provided to Ludeman’s previous lawyers, “knowing they would be provided to the family and knowing the false photographs would lie to a grieving mother and father,” the lawsuit states. It also alleges that those were the photos provided to the Salt Lake County District Attorney.