DENVER (KDVR) — In August last year, the Denver District Attorney's Office announced plans to drop the second murder charge against Stephan Long in what the office has characterized as a road rage homicide on Interstate 25.

The incident happened in June 2023. Prosecutors maintained for over a year that Long had shot and killed brothers Blake and Damon Lucas after a road rage incident on northbound I-25 near 8th Avenue.

Both murder charges against Long were dropped, and on Thursday, Long filed a lawsuit against the city and county of Denver and two officers in the Denver Police Department. He said that on June 13, 2023, he was driving alone, but that his wife was driving separately in a car "right behind him" with his children in the vehicle. He said that his car was "aggressively" cut off and pinned in traffic, "with no way to flee."

He alleges in the lawsuit filed Thursday that he was attacked through the open window of his vehicle — choked, punched and grabbed — which led him to fire his firearm at the attacker. That's when he says the second assailant came toward his car and also began assaulting Long through the window of his vehicle.

"By this time, traffic began to move ever-so-slightly, and Mr. Long attempted to drive away from the situation; sadly, the second assailant grabbed onto the driver-side window and continued his assault as Mr. Long tried to flee," the lawsuit states, before alleging that is when Long fired his weapon a second time.

Long provided a statement to FOX31 regarding the lawsuit through his attorney on Friday.

"This experience has been the most devastating chapter of my life — not just for me, but for my entire family," Long said. "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.

"This wasn’t just a legal fight, it was a trauma that tore through every corner of our lives," Long's statement continued. "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."

The Denver Justice Project also shared a lengthy statement after the lawsuit was filed, supporting Long.

"Let us be clear: no amount of money can undo the harm inflicted on Stephan and his family. The emotional, financial, and psychological toll of this ordeal is immeasurable. His arrest and prosecution tore apart his life and deeply disrupted his family’s stability, safety, and peace — all because he was forced to defend himself. His entire family paid a price that can never be recuperated," the Denver Justice Project said in part.

Long alleges racism by Denver police officers

Long has maintained that the Lucas brothers attacked him first, and that he fired his gun in self-defense. Then-Denver DA Beth McCann told FOX31 in a statement that she did not believe the charges could be argued without a reasonable doubt to a jury.

“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," McCann told FO31. "This was an extremely difficult and heart-wrenching decision but, ultimately, in my opinion, the correct one.”

The Denver Justice Project called her prosecution of Long "racist, biased and emblematic of a legal system that punishes Black people for exercising the same rights freely afforded to white people."

Police said the brothers and Long were stopped under West 6th Avenue on I-25 when one of the brothers approached Long’s car, and Long opened fire. The second brother then allegedly got out and jumped on Long's car, and as Long drove off, the brother fell.

In May 2024, advocates for Long delivered hundreds of letters to the Denver DA's office, urging McCann not to prosecute Long for murder. The family and advocates said at the time they believed his race played a role, a message echoed by the Denver Justice Project on Friday.

"Stephan’s case does not exist in isolation. When a white shooter kills a Black person, it’s ruled justifiable 34% of the time. When a Black shooter kills a white person, that rate drops to 3%. The right to self-defense has never truly applied to Black people — and when they attempt to claim it, the system punishes them for it," the Denver Justice Project stated.

The federal lawsuit accuses the police department, and specifically two involved officers, of racial bias. On Friday, the city attorney's office told FOX31 it does not have any comment on the lawsuit. The Denver Police Department has not responded to FOX31's request for comment about the lawsuit.