COEUR d’ALENE — A jury in U.S. District Court on Monday took up a civil rights lawsuit filed by the widower of a woman who was shot and killed outside Bonner General Health in an armed confrontation with Sandpoint Police officers on July 8, 2014.

Jeanetta Riley, 35, was killed after refusing commands to drop the knife she was holding and advancing toward officers Michael Valenzuela and Skylar Ziegler. Jurors were shown to segments of video footage from cameras mounted to the dashboards of the officers’ respective patrol vehicles, which shows an animated Riley cursing at officers and yelling “no” and “bring it on” seconds before she was shot.

Shane Riley, Jeanetta Riley’s husband and father of her unborn child, filed suit against the city, alleging that the officers used excessive and deadly force against her in violation of her protections guaranteed under the Forth and Fourteenth amendments. Shane Riley further argues that the police department failed to adequately train the involved officers, resulting in a deliberate indifference to Jeanetta Riley’s constitutional rights.

A panel of four women and three men were seated as jurors after Judge B. Lynn Winmill and attorneys on both sides of the case questioned a broader panel of potential jurors that included construction workers, homemakers, retirees, loggers, healthcare workers and a university theater professor. The jury pool was asked about their personal interactions with law enforcement, in addition to their attitudes about officer-involved shootings, alcohol use, mental illness, homelessness and civil litigation. They were also asked if they watched police procedurals on television.

Drew Dalton, counsel for Shane Riley, said the fatal clash occurred after his client took his wife to the hospital to try and get her help without involving law enforcement. He told an emergency room nurse that his suicidal wife was outside and was threatening to kill anyone who stood in her way.

“He didn’t know what to do,” Dalton said during his opening statement to jurors.

Officers, however, were immediately summoned to the hospital shortly before 9 p.m., after receiving a report that there was a homicidal woman outside the facility who was armed with a knife.

Dalton said he would call on a veteran law officer as an expert witness to demonstrate that the deadly confrontation could have been avoided through better training and policing standards.

Peter Erbland, counsel for the city, said during his opening remarks that Jeanetta Riley was intent on deadly violence and showed jurors the fillet knife that she had in her right hand when she was shot. He noted that Jeanetta Riley had made repeated remarks about stabbing people while en route to the hospital.

Erbland further argued that the officers acted in accordance with their training when they were confronted by lethal force wielded by a subject who ignored repeated commands and stepped toward them.

Erbland concluded by saying the plaintiffs were seeking money, while the defense was seeking exoneration of the officers.

“I’m going to ask you to lift the cloud that has been hanging over their heads for five years,” Erbland told jurors.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.