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As people around the world continue to protest police brutality following the death of George Floyd, the city of Denver finds itself facing a class action lawsuit alleging excessive force by its police department.
The complaint, filed by plaintiffs Agazi Abay, Gabriel Thorn, Amy Schneider and Michael McDaniel, cites numerous examples of force they say the Denver Police Department has been using against protesters, medics, and journalists.
The plaintiffs say their experiences are not isolated incidents, but rather “part of a force-wide use of excessive and unconstitutional force to restrict the constitutional rights of protesters challenging racism and police brutality in our society.”
Protesters such as the plaintiffs have been taking to the streets since May 25, when George Floyd died after his neck and back were knelt on by a Minneapolis police officer. The first protest in Denver took place the night of May 28 and, since then, protests have been continuing nightly.
The plaintiffs say the protests have been largely peaceful, though some protesters have engaged in destructive behaviors such as looting and burning. However, the lawsuit claims that when considering the thousands of people who have participated peacefully, the incidents of destruction have been relatively remote.
Despite the overall peaceful nature of the demonstrations, Denver police have allegedly “engaged in injurious riot control tactics,” immediately turning to riot gear the night of the first protest. One officer even posted on Instagram a photo of himself and two other officers dressed in riot gear. The caption read, “Let’s start a riot.”
The class action lawsuit includes videos of Denver police threatening protesters, “wantonly” spraying pepper spray, tearing up a peaceful protester’s sign and spraying without justification, using a pepper bullet to try to stop a filmmaker from attempting to document police brutality, and otherwise using excessive force.
Reports in local media have documented other incidents in which protesters were allegedly injured by police brutality and excessive force.
One protester not named in the plaintiff’s class action lawsuit says he was shot in the face by a pepper ball. Darrell Hampton told the Colorado Sun he was recording the officer who shot him, and his phone was shattered by the projectile’s impact.
In addition to targeting protesters with excessive force, the complaint alleges that Denver police also used similar tactics to target visibly credentialed journalists.
A Denver Post reporter was allegedly injured by a pepper ball, the excessive force complaint says. The Post reported photojournalist Hyoung Chang, who says a Denver officer fired two pepper balls directly at him, was struck twice. The pepper balls cut his arm and shattered the press credential around his neck.
Other alleged assaults by police against working journalists include more pepper balls and “paint balls” being fired at photographers and a projectile being fired at a reporter’s backpack. A Denver reporter says they were shoved and forced “to inhale choking gas” after showing their press credential, the complaint says. In another excessive force incident, the class action lawsuit claims that two reporters were ordered to move toward “an epic amount of tear gas” while the officer pointed a weapon directly at them.
Several examples of this type of interaction are cited in the plaintiffs’ complaint, which also points out this is not the first time Denver police have targeted the press. In 2018, the city of Denver reportedly entered into a settlement after arresting a reporter who was documenting police conduct.
But the police brutality at the protests doesn’t stop there, the class action lawsuit says. The Denver Police Department also stands accused of targeted medics wearing red crosses as they attempted to treat those injured by the officers.
Included in the complaint is a video of a protester being knocked out by a rubber bullet, and medics being shot at as they try to help him.
The plaintiffs take issue not only with the people being targeted with excessive force, but the areas on their person they say police are targeting.
The complaint alleges the Denver police aim at individuals’ heads and groins, “in a clear tactic to inflict maximum damage, pain, and distress to their target.” Several people have reported being hit in the eye by rubber bullets.
The excessive force class action lawsuit alleges further police brutality by Denver officers in the form of tear-gassing and shooting pepper balls at peaceful, chanting protesters, throwing tear gas and flashbangs into peaceful crowds, shooting pepper balls at a woman instead of asking her to move, and shooting into a car in traffic with a pregnant woman inside.
On Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring Denver police from using chemicals or projectiles against protesters, saying the department had “failed in its duty to police its own” and calling some of the officers’ behaviors “disgusting.”
Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen has promised accountability and change in the department, but has not offered any details on how he hopes to accomplish that, according to The Denver Post.
Murphy Robinson, Pazen’s supervisor as public safety executive director and a former police officer himself, told The Post he would “refocus a police officers’ job from the ultimate purpose of jailing people to how do we utilize them in a capacity to bring life to someone.”
The plaintiffs and Class Members allege their First and Fourth Amendment rights have been violated by the Denver Police Department.
As such, the plaintiffs are seeking the following action by the Court:
- A temporary restraining order barring the city from using tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper balls, pepper spray and flashbangs;
- A preliminary injunction barring the city from unconstitutional conduct;
- A determination that this action may proceed as a class action, with the plaintiffs as Class representatives and their counsel as class counsel;
- A declaration that the city’s conduct violated the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution;
- A permanent injunction barring the city from engaging in unconstitutional behavior;
- Damages compensating the plaintiffs for their injuries, including but not limited to compensatory, pecuniary and medical expense damages;
- A jury trial for all triable offenses;
- And prejudgment interest, attorneys’ fees and costs and any other relief the Court deems just.
Have you been injured by officers while protesting police brutality? Tell us your story in the comments below.
The plaintiffs are represented by Edward Milo Schwab of Ascend Counsel LLC.
The Denver Excessive Force Class Action Lawsuit is Agazi Abay, et al. v. City of Denver, Case No. 1:20-cv-01616, in the Denver District Court.
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2 thoughts onDenver Police Face Excessive Force Class Action
Hello, on Saturday May 29th, at 8:29 p.m. my wife Nicole and I were victims of police brutality. We were in downtown Denver that evening to observe and participate peacefully in the protests. A line of police cars with lights flashing were encroaching on us from behind so we pulled over on the left side of the road at Logan and 12th. We were saying and doing nothing other than being pulled over so that they could pass. As the convoy passed us, the last police officer shot something at the rear of our vehicle causing an explosion. Unsure of what it was and alarmed and frightened, we rolled up the windows and ducked down. As the armed officer passed us he held a gun pointed at my wife’s face from about 10 feet away. This was so unbelievably unnecessary and traumatizing for her, she is still in a state of shock over the event that our Police department could have done such a thing. Upon further investigation, we discovered that the police had shot out our rear tail light on our Toyota Sequoia. This is a difficult to find OEM Toyota part and will cost us a lot of money to replace. We have video evidence of the entire encounter if you would like. We will be suing the Denver Police department for these damages and the trauma caused to my wife as a result of this. Thank you for your time.
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