Salem reaches $850,000 settlement in lawsuit over 2021 police killing of Salem man

The city of Salem has agreed to pay $850,000 to the mother of a mentally ill man who a Salem police officer shot and killed in July 2021.

Officer Nathan Bush shot Arcadio Castillo III, 23, four times as Castillo was armed with a knife. Castillo’s family later said in a public statement that he had a history of mental illness and related abuse of marijuana and alcohol. 

The Marion County District Attorney’s Office said at the time that the officer fired shots as Castillo rushed toward him with a knife. 

But the man’s mother provided a different account of the episode in a lawsuit filed nearly a year later in Eugene U.S. District Court, saying Bush fired on her son almost immediately after entering the family’s house without giving him an opportunity to put down his knife.

Misty L. Castillo alleged in the lawsuit that Bush failed to await backup officers’ arrival and contact officers better trained to handle a behavioral health crisis before entering the house. She also said the officer failed to knock and announce his presence and intention to enter before doing so and use crisis intervention tactics and training “before resorting to deadly force.”

The city and Castillo’s mother have temporarily agreed on the settlement, but it still needs to be approved by a state probate court and then by the Salem City Council.

The court on March 6 ordered that the case be dismissed in 60 days with prejudice, meaning the lawsuit can’t be refiled, unless the settlement isn’t finalized.

“We are glad to resolve the case in a way that was agreeable to both sides,” Misty Castillo wrote in a statement Monday through her attorney, James M. Healy of the Gatti Law Firm. “The only thing we ever wanted was to get our son the help he needed. Even though it has been many years since his passing, we think about him every day, and we miss his presence in our lives every day.”

Courtney Knox Busch, Salem’s strategic initiatives manager, told Salem Reporter the city wouldn’t comment on the settlement until a formal agreement is signed. She said that likely won’t occur for a few weeks. 

A Marion County grand jury a month after Castillo’s death found Bush was justified in shooting him. 

Castillo had depression, anxiety, ADHD and substance abuse disorder. His parents were seeking mental health services through Marion County to get him civilly committed because he was a danger to himself and others, according to the civil complaint.

Salem police were called to the family’s house on at least nine separate occasions between April 16, 2020, and July 9, 2021, for domestic disturbances “directly” related to Castillo III’s mental health and substance abuse disorders, the lawsuit said.

Castillo’s mother called 911 around 11 p.m. on July 9, 2021, to report her son was “mentally ill, intoxicated, under the influence of marijuana, assaulting family members and armed with a knife,” according to the civil complaint.

Before arriving at the house in the North Lancaster neighborhood, Bush was told that Castillo was “in crisis,” the suit said.

Bush arrived nearly two minutes after the call to find Castillo on the front porch and his mother in the front yard. As the officer approached the house on foot, the suit said, Castillo went inside and closed the door.

The officer found Castillo’s mother with injuries to her hand, wrist, knee and lower leg caused by her son slamming her into her car, knocking her to the ground and then dragging her across the cement, according to an account by the Marion County District Attorney’s Office after the grand jury’s findings in August 2021.

Bush swung open the door and saw Castillo holding “a large kitchen knife” in his right hand with his right arm held down to his side, standing about 12 feet away directly in front of the officer, the suit said. Meantime, Castillo’s father stood somewhere near the front door to his left.

Bush shouted, “Put the knife down, put it down!” the suit said. 

The lawsuit and Marion County prosecutors’ account broadly agree on the sequence of events up to that point. But they disagree about whether Castillo then lunged toward the officer with a knife or whether he posed an immediate danger to his father.

Bush fired four gunshots which all struck Castillo in the upper chest, killing him. Around 11:24 p.m., less than two minutes after arriving at the Castillos’ home, the officer announced over his radio that he’d fired shots.

The Castillo family “reached out for help to those sworn to protect and serve,” said Ron Sayer, another attorney with the Gatti Law Firm who represented Misty Castillo in the lawsuit, in a news release in May 2022. “We hope this case shines a light on the dire need for police departments to utilize behavioral health and crisis negotiation officers when responding to community members experiencing mental health crises. Lives depend on this critical training and the judgment, skill and discipline of officers to apply it.”

Three years after Castillo’s death, Bush was one of two Salem police officers who shot and wounded Daniel L. Garcia, 35, of Salem, in September 2024 while responding to a report of an attempted kidnapping in West Salem.

A Polk County grand jury found the officers were justified in shooting Garcia, who was charged with eight crimes including attempting to assault officers and unlawfully using a weapon.

RELATED COVERAGE:

Alleging excessive force, mother sues city, Salem officer who killed son

Marion County grand jury finds fatal police shooting justified

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

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