GEORGETOWN, Colo. – A former Georgetown police officer was sentenced to probation, community service and anger management classes after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to harassment for assaulting a man who’d been arrested for driving under the influence.
Jon Geiger pleaded guilty to one count of harassment (strike/shove)—a class 3 misdemeanor. The charge stemmed from an incident that happened in a booking room in Georgetown on Oct. 29, 2016.
Video captured a man who’d been arrested for DUI walking into a holding cell and slamming the door several times open and shut. Geiger, who was at the time a Georgetown police officer, took the man out of the cell and put him in a wrist lock, then pushed him up against the wall before Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputies broke the two up.
A 5th Judicial District grand jury found that Geiger used excessive force in the incident and Geiger pleaded guilty to the harassment charge Tuesday. Judge Cynthia Jones then sentenced Geiger to one year of supervised probation, 48 hours of community service, anger management classes at a 60-day suspended jail sentence—meaning Geiger won’t face jail time unless he violates the other conditions of his probation.
Geiger is no longer employed by the Georgetown Police Department.
“Law enforcement officers occupy a position of trust that must be maintained at all times to assure the safety of people in jail, more vulnerable by their temporary deprivation of freedom. The officer here lost his cool for no good reason and employed force where none was needed. This conviction will assure that Jon Geiger will not be able to work as a peace officer in the State of Colorado, a fundamental goal of the prosecution. Like any profession, law enforcement has a few bad apples and when they are identified it is our role to remove them from the barrel,” 5th Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown said in a statement.