After a nearly two-year battle, a higher court in Washington state has officially dissolved a wrongful death lawsuit filed against two police officers who murdered a pregnant mother of four in 2017.

As Blavity previously reported, Charleena Lyles phoned police on June 18, 2017, regarding a break-in at her apartment in the Sand Point neighborhood of Seattle. Two white officers responded to the call. When they arrived at her building, they were reportedly confronted by Lyles who they claim was in possession of a knife.

Claiming they feared for their lives, authorities fired seven shots at Lyles, killing her at the scene. Lyles was pregnant with her fifth child at the time and was reportedly struggling with mental health issues 

Following the deadly incident, several protests were organized around in defense of Lyles, including a town hall where family members argued the shooting was racially motivated. Her killing was likened to a modern-day "lynching." Other activists called on city officials to protect their Black citizens from altercations like this in the future.

"Fix the system. We are dying. We are burying our children. We had said earlier insanity is doing the same thing expecting a different result," said Sheley Secrest, an NAACP activist in the Seattle area.

HuffPost writes that King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector decided on January 4 to dissolve the wrongful death and civil rights infringement charges made against Jason Anderson and Steven McNew, the two authorities who shot and killed Lyles. Per HuffPost, the dispute was expelled with prejudice, meaning it can be contested to a higher court but cannot be refiled at a later date. 

According to My Northwest, Lyles' family plans to appeal the ruling.

In a statement to The Seattle Times, a lawyer for the Lyles family rejected the unanimous vote and called on police departments to develop a better system for training incoming officers. 

"We cannot accept that Charleena Lyles' killing was unavoidable. If her killing was within policy and training, we need changes in policy and training," Corey Guilmette, an attorney for the Lyles family, said. 

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