DENVER – Coloradans are outraged and demanding action from city leaders after seeing our investigative report about a dog owner beaten by two Denver Police officers. Now the Denver police independent monitor says he’s responding to the public outcry and reviewing the video to see if a larger investigation is warranted.
Mark Ashford was walking his dogs near 20th and Little Raven, when he witnessed police pull over a driver for failing to stop at a stop sign. He told the driver he saw him stop and would be willing to testify in court. His attorney, Will Hart, said the police officers overheard Ashford’s comment and “weren’t happy about it.”
Hart said the officers demanded Ashford’s I.D. and wouldn’t let him leave. “They had no reason to stop him or detain him, that’s a violation of his fourth amendment rights,” said Hart. Ashford then tried to take a picture of the officers to document the incident, but both the officers pulled his hand behind his back and attempted to arrest him. Ashford appeared to struggle before he was slammed into a railing, punched repeatedly in the face and wrestled to the ground.
Ashford was charged with interference and resisting arrest, but the charges were later dropped, “because the city attorney agreed his fourth amendment rights were violated,” said Hart. Excessive force complaints were filed against the officers.
A Denver police department spokesperson said the internal affairs investigation is closed, but the independent police monitor says he is reviewing the surveillance video to determine if the police officers used excessive force.
There are days I wish this would happen to me….I sure could use the money.
If Ashford’s side of the story is correct (can’t the driver he was helping corroborate?) then this is a sickening case of police WAY overstepping their bounds and should lose in court along with their jobs.
This the police state mentality brought to you courtesy of the Cheney administration.
The ACLU should help this citizen sue the city for police brutality and conspiracy as both these thug cops tried to silence him to testify in court.
Since Roman Times, the question has been: “Who Polices the Police?” – We need Civilian Control Boards overseeing EVERY POLICE AND PARA-MILITARY AND MILITARY ORGANIZATION !!!
They should lose their job and go to jail.
#4 – Yes they should (after a fair trial, of course).
A very close “Peace officer” brags that he lead the league in complaints. Strongest union on the planet, baby.
Maybe they wouldn’t act like union thugs if there were no union involvement? Just asking.
Of course the police officers involved should be sued, but moreso the Police Dept/Mayor’s Office/whoever is in authority should be sued for the illegal conduct of the “force.”
Mandate classes in correct procedure to “serve and protect.” Paper test to keep your job on the rights of the citizenry to talk, film, assemble, ask question etc.
Citizen review boards of course.
There are very few rogue cops in a system that is not rogue itself.
the guy is luck the cops didnt shoot the dogs like they do in tennessee when they falsely arrest you.
Dog 1: “Did you see that?”
Dog 2: “Yeah, but what should we do?”
Dog 1: “Let’s bite the big one.”
Dog 2: “Yeah… ‘cept …”
Dog 1: “What?”
Dog 2: “They have Tasers and guns and stuff.”
Dog 1: “I hear ya. Let’s just watch and … HEY! There are cars here. Wanna chase one?”
It’s the mayor who should be tried and jailed. His name is Hickenlooper and he looks like a dork. I have the sense that he gets pushed around by the cops.
Those wacky Coloradastanians.
Them Denver cops need to take a trip to LA to see how its done!
Oh, and Dallas, it kind of reminds me of some film from the Kennedy and Johnson (Lyndon) administrations.
Of course, the cops should lose their jobs, and their balls…just so they don’t reproduce.
Remove the badges from their shirts and their action is a clear case of criminal assault. So why do badges exempt them from the laws that apply to the rest of us?
Seriously…after a few hundred of these videos, is anyone here sad or even particularly upset when one of these “brave” costumed thugs gets picked off in the line of “duty”? I’m slowly going from not caring when that happens to being kinda happy when it does.
Oh, and I’ll believe the line of shit about there being “good” cops when they all stop covering for the obvious bad ones.
The scariest part is, how effing stupid do you have to be to do this in front of police surveillance cameras?
Should be fired for that alone.
Number 13 for the win.
At least Denver has an independent police reviewer.
At least the camera operator didn’t pull back and look elsewhere while the guy was being “restrained”.
And don’t forget, they hate us for our freedom. And let’s be careful out there.
Oh how we reminisce of the days when the police were there “To protect and to serve.” Those days are long gone. Yes, we do live in a police state, where most of us fear the police just because they are the police. Yet we continue to allow it to escalate, accepting the US Customs and TSA tyrannical behavior as the acceptable norm, where old ladies are Tased in their beds and the police don’t find it revolting themselves.
Being a cop has become being an enforcer, but not necessarily a law enforcer.
Police helicopters circling overhead, at least 10 police cars, cops hiding behind doors with guns drawn, the major freeway closed outright, car occupants made to lay down in the middle of the freeway, mom, dad and kids handcuffed, all for a suspected stolen vehicle. And it turns out it was just a family on a camping trip and the vehicle was not the right one.
In the mean time we allow bankers to steal billions with no consequence.
http://huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/20/family-on-camping-outing-_n_689314.html
I do NOT consider this to be a case of excessive force. I consider this to be a case of criminal behavior, and I’d expect the two officers involved to be fired.
Sue baby sue.
Until it costs the taxpayer to keep these fkin idiots in diapers, they will be tolerated.
$500,000 for the victim at a minimum.
Looks like these camera’s have backfired on them its catching the criminals that work for the police dept. and the ones that don’t.
lol… the local police are prolly all amped up over the deluge of pseudo-survivalist monied city slickers moving into denver in hopes to escape whatever 2012 doom&gloom documentary alluded that their city would be underwater etc.
wonder if one of the two here were new residents.
(I know quite a few nyorkers who have moved to denver for this exact reason. Most often line i hear once they are there: “there are an awful lot of buildings in the middle of nowhere with no windows…”)
…i just laugh.
-s
Didn’t George Bush Senior resign from the NRA because they sent out a mailer about jack-booted government thugs?
Suing the city or the cops is like a community foot shot. You know who ends up paying. If the story line is anywhere close to the truth, these cops should be good for about 20 years worth of charges both federal and state. It seems to me that if the responsible procecutorial authorities find evidence compelling yet fail to bring charges that they become an accessories after the fact to the cops criminal activity alleged in the story. Oh well, you and I both know what is going to happen right?
#22. “Looks like these camera’s have backfired on them its catching the criminals that work for the police dept.”
Actually the cameras are precisely doing their job… which is why most cops *don’t* want the cameras to be there. The old line of “yeah, cops want cameras there so they can tell the truth when we *don’t* beat someone” is said under the same (somewhat idiotic) logic that produces a person carrying contraband saying “Go ahead and search me, you won’t find nothing!” (The idea of course being if they say that, maybe the person about to search/put a camera in place will decide the guy has a trustworthy face and move on. What can I say, people are, on the whole, stupid.)
I agree with #7, about the dogs.
These are the same people(cops)who are always crying nobody likes us!
They should be sent to prison, gen. population!
Maybe it’s a setup to get money from the city.
Saw it on The Practice where a cop lover does a poor search and the guy walks on murder charge.
Until there is a “Death Wish” hero who takes out bad cops, this will not stop.
You can sue all day…until you’re old and bankrupt.
Give these aśśhole cops the same beatings they dole out.
Cut the cops some slack will ya.. they keep our cities safe at the peril of their lives. They need to have a carte blanche to accomplish their tasks, not with their hands tied behind their backs.
NOTHING WORKS LIKE A TASTE OF ONE’S OWN MEDICINE.
GIVE SOME TO THE MAYOR, TOO.