Denver officials are deeply divided over the proper level of punishment for a police officer who was seen on video tackling and beating a 23-year-old man who was doing nothing but talking on a telephone outside a LoDo nightclub.
The video of Officer Devin Sparks repeatedly hitting Michael DeHerrera of Denver with a department-issued piece of metal wrapped in leather, picking him up roughly and slamming a car door on his ankle has prompted Independent Monitor Richard Rosenthal to push for the firing of Sparks and Corporal Randy Murr.
Rosenthal, who monitors police internal investigations, maintains Sparks and Murr are unfit for the force because they didn't tell the truth about the April 4, 2009 incident. Rosenthal also believes the use of force by Sparks was excessive. The Denver City Council earlier this year agreed to pay $17,500 to settle a federal lawsuit brought by DeHerrera alleging excessive force.
DeHerrera, in interviews, has described police as beating him unconscious. He said he woke up in a hospital bed, with stitches in his head, and a swollen head. He said he later was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.
"The video was so important because it showed everything that happened, regardless of reports or what's filled out," DeHerrera said in an interview. "The video speaks more than any of those words can."
He added: "I don't swing. I don't blade. I'm on the phone. The only thing I hold onto is my phone. When I go down, I'm out, and that's when he continues to 'get my compliance.'"
The incident was filmed by the police department's own High Activity Location Observation video surveillance system. Video released to the news media by the department shows DeHerrera doing nothing but talking on his phone with his father, a sheriff's deputy in Pueblo.
Rosenthal, in a report to be released on Monday, labels as "pure fiction" the police report from Sparks that describes his force as justified because DeHerrera "spun to his left attempting to strike me in the face with a closed right fist."
Safety Manager Ron Perea, who oversees the police department and has final say on discipline, has rejected Rosenthal's argument that the officers should be fired. He suspended Murr without pay for three days for submitting an "inaccurate report." Sparks also lost three days pay.
"The video, when viewed in isolation, seems to portray the subject officers as overly aggressive for the situation," Perea said. "There is no audio and it appears that there is a man on the phone ignoring but not being overtly aggressive towards the officer when the officer takes him down. The video, however, does not tell the entire story."
Perea said a witness said DeHerrera pushed another officer moments earlier and that Sparks feared DeHerrera was about to strike him. Other witnesses disputed that DeHerrera had pushed anyone.
"While it is clear from the HALO camera that he is on the phone and does not appear ready to hit the officer, from the officer's position he was confronting someone already known to have assaulted one officer who then pulled his arm back at the shoulder with a closed fit," Perea wrote.
DeHerrera was talking on the phone with his father at 12:14 a.m., when the incident occurred. The police had taken into custody DeHerrera's friend, Shawn Johnson, then 24, after he used a women's restroom and was ejected from a nightclub. DeHerrera said he feared for his friend's safety and was asking for advice from his father, a Pueblo sheriff's deputy.
Both Johnson and DeHerrera were charged by police with interference and resisting arrest. Assistant City Attorney Vince DiCroce moved to dismiss the charges after reviewing the video "because there is no likelihood of conviction."
The clash between Rosenthal and Perea follows Perea's hiring in June to replace the former safety manager, Al LaCabe. LaCabe and Rosenthal took a similar approach to discipline decisions and rarely disagreed on how to handle an officer's actions.
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