Independent monitor: Five Denver police officer-involved shootings still under review

By Sam Levin Mon., Dec. 31 2012 at 5:41 AM

In all of the cases except the first involving the Aurora Plice Department, the DPD's Homicide Bureau has completed its investigation. All five cases will face reviews from the Use of Force Review Board, a DPD entity made up of several commanders and two civilians.

Sam Levin

DPD Police Chief Robert White.

Also of note in the report: One officer-involved shooting was closed in the third quarter of 2012. In this case, officers responded to a call regarding a suicidal individual, who committed suicide immediately after verbal contact with officers. This April 19 case resulted in discipline for one officer "due to an accidental discharge of a less-lethal weapon away from the scene." The independent monitor concurred with the decision.

At the sheriff's department, one inmate death on September 29 is under review and another fatality case from February has been closed with no misconduct found; the inmate died of natural causes.

And from July through September, there were a total of 219 new complaints against the DPD, which include both internal and citizen complaints.

Here's the full report, which also includes details on the outcomes of internal affairs cases as well as highlighted commendations.
Office of the Independent Monitor

Follow Sam Levin on Twitter at @SamTLevin. E-mail the author at Sam.Levin@Westword.com.

Tags:

Alex Landau, Alex Martinez, Denver Police Department, Denver Sheriff's Office, Department of Safety, discipline, DPD, Independent monitor, Nicholas Mitchell, shootings

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Juan_Leg topcommenter

Only 'christian' cops are safe . They have more than a shift-commander to report to ......

LOL !!!

DonkeyHotay topcommenter

1 Like

Cops = cowardly homicidal criminals with badges and guns.

hth.

CoreyDonahue topcommenter

1 Like

¨An arrested party slipped through his handcuffs and engaged in a physical altercation with an officer who was driving him to the police station for processing. Another officer in a different car saw the struggle and the arresting officer's car swerving in and out of his lane. The second officer went to assist and shot the arrestee, killing him.¨

Really ever ride in the back of a cop car? There is a plastic window seperating the arested person and the cop, standard in every patrol car. How did the guy get to the cop? Another wonderful peice of PROPAGANDA brought to us by the WASTEWORD.

DonkeyHotay topcommenter

1 Like

@CoreyDonahue "ever ride in the back of a cop car?"

Your frequent rider miles entitle you to a free first class upgrade on your next arrest.

CoreyDonahue topcommenter

@DonkeyHotay @CoreyDonahue Yep, they have a nice cell for me too with my name on it and everything. But I was convicted of use of fighting words in Boulder when I was hand cuffed in the back of a cop car. So, law enforcement has shown the people in the last year the most dangrous place to be is hand cuffed in the back of a cop car. Leave it to the Wasteword to sugar coat law enforcements assination of a person handcuffed in the back of a cop car.

Juan_Leg topcommenter

1 Like

Had these been 'civilian' involved shootings, involved parties would be 'detained' while 'investigated', I mean 'reviewed' !!!

Juan_Leg topcommenter

1 Like

Not a damn thing was done to ANY of the 9 officers involved in my early 2000's, beating .

This occurred long after I was crippled & much was captured by their own surveillance cameras !

Explain WHY an UNCONSCIOUS man was 'tazed' REPEATEDLY ? I was hospitalized !

My attorney, R, Zapor, sold me out for a settlement & EVERYONE kept their jobs !!!

alohajoe007

Well this is a failure as expected. Note the biggest punishments come from trying to tape the chief at a hearing and apparently the police are such prima donnas now that they report when one rags on the other.

But no matter how you look at it the police are above the law and there will be no punishment for cop who kills a citizen, ever. Our history shows this. Worse still is that this department creates the illusion that someone actually is looking hard at the police and has the power to do something. The police will never even if the governor and the president ordered it allow any new agency to actually see what they do because what they do is very illegal but have been given a pass from ALL politicians. The police unions are the largest donors (bribers) of both paties and that is why now cities have to spend over %50 of the income just to pay these thugs. Because of this we will never recover economically never. And to make things worse is our so called health care system is now run by cops NOT doctors. We are doomed.