In Denver, Colorado, justice has finally been served — and to the tune of a $860,000 settlement. This time, a courtroom full of people agreed that a police officer was at fault.

It’s a case that’s spent seven years weaving in and out of legal procedures, but, like the vast majority of cases (80 to 92%), it was settled outside of trial. In 2008, James D. Moore, a disabled veteran, was standing outside his apartment with a girlfriend when two Denver police officers arrived on a noise complaint.

According to the Denver Post and testimony, one of the officers, Shawn Miller, commanded Moore to take his hands out of his pockets the moment they arrived even though Moore claims his hands were not there in the first place. Miller’s response was to tackle Moore to the ground, hog-tie him, and repeatedly strike him on the head. His attorney, David Lane, told the Denver Post, that he was almost beaten to death, characterizing Miller as the “poster child” for everything wrong with the department.

“(The officers) beat Mr. Moore with such brutality while he was helpless on the ground that he lost consciousness, his heart stopped beating and paramedics or law enforcement officers had to administer CPR to save his life,” the suit states.

The officer in question is not new to this type of conduct either. Miller has been the subject of 39 different Internal Affairs investigations, 15 of which were from excessive-force complaints. This was the first inappropriate force case that actually stuck to him though. Early reports indicate Millers employment and rank status with the force will remained unchanged.

The city will wind up footing the bill of another cop-gone-crazy case as they will pay $775,000 directly to Moore and $85,000 to his attorney, David Lane. How he will receive this settlement is still undetermined at the time of writing.

The post Disabled Veteran Wins $860K Settlement Against Denver Police Officer appeared first on In Denver Times.

A possibly drunk driver rear ended a Colorado State Patrol trooper on the morning of September 1 in what police fear may be a new trend.

According to Colorado State Patrol, 46-year-old State Patrol trooper Clinton Stanton was taken to North Suburban Medical Center to be treated for minor injuries. He’s since been released.

The incident happened on Tuesday morning, when Stanton stopped to let a truck driver know that his vehicle’s load was spilling. It was then that 21-year-old Jose Ramirez struck the trooper’s vehicle, which Stanton was in at the time of the collision.

Ramirez ran away after the right wheel of his vehicle came off, but Adam County deputies later took him into custody. He faces several charges including suspicion of DUI, leaving the scene of an accident and failure to yield.

Denver Police said alcohol is suspected to have played a factor in the collision. According to Colorado state law, the fine for a driver’s first DUI is between $300 and $1,000, and up to one year in jail. The second, and third offense warrants a fine up to $1,500, and up to one year in jail. Ramirez now faces potential charges for DUI, failure to yield, and leaving the scene of an accident. He has has an extensive criminal history that includes drug charges, driving under a suspended license, and other traffic violations.

“It’s quite troubling,” said Sgt. Mike Farr of the Denver Police Department. “Here we are, less than a week later, talking about another DUI involved crash. I certainly hope this is not a trend.”

On August 28 — the previous Friday — a Denver Police officer had been conducting a traffic stop when a suspected drunk driver collided with him at around 4 a.m. The officer sustained multiple injuries, including a spinal cord fracture, a fractured jaw, and five broken ribs.

“There was a time when you could say we got to 3:00 to 3:30 in the morning and we were done with the drunks,” said Farr. “The drunks had made it home and we were able to get breakfast and wait for the burglary reports to come out when the sun came up. That’s just simply not the case anymore.”

The post Colorado Police Worry New Trend Emerging Amongst Drunk Drivers appeared first on In Denver Times.