BIA officer dismissed from wrongful death lawsuit

BISMARCK, N.D. – One of two Bureau of Indian Affairs officers has been dismissed from a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a man who was fatally shot on the Standing Rock Reservation in 2017.

A federal judge has signed an order dismissing Gary Sandland Jr. from the lawsuit filed by the family of George “Ryan” Gipp Jr.

The family claims Gipp was unarmed and obeyed instructions when officers used a Taser on him and shot him as he stumbled into a road ditch near Fort Yates.

Sandland maintained he didn’t use his stun gun or his firearm, according to a document filed jointly by attorneys for Gipp’s family, the BIA and the officers.