AURORA, Colo. — The Aurora Police Department released body-worn camera footage Thursday that showed a use of force incident from August 2022 in which an officer took a suspect to the ground, injuring the man's face.
The video shows the officer, who was not named, escorting a suspect out of a local hospital to a police vehicle on Aug. 14, 2022. The suspect was in handcuffs and the officer had a grip on his arm. The handcuffed man turned slightly, an officer said, "Stop resisting" and then, as they approached the exit doors, the officer "forcefully took the handcuffed suspect to the ground, resulting in facial injuries," the department said.
The officer again said "Stop resisting" and the suspect replied, "I didn't do anything" and moaned. The officer said the suspect tried to pull his arm. "You broke my f***ing face," the suspect said, yelling as blood splattered from his face on the tile floor.
Two officers held the suspect on the ground as a nurse put gauze on his head. A small pool of blood was under his head.
"Everybody seen it here, I didn't do nothing. That's how they treat people," the suspect said.
"You started to pull away, it's on camera. Yup, it's on camera," the officer replied.
The video includes body camera video from three officers.
The case wasn't reviewed until the middle of January due to "the initial classification and the Force Investigation Unit’s caseload," the department said.
After that preliminary review, the Office of the Chief of Police was notified and then authorized an internal investigation, with an additional request for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to conduct a separate external investigation.
The officer involved was reassigned on Feb. 2. He is currently working in a non-enforcement capacity as the investigation continues, the department said
The CBI finished its investigation Thursday and forwarded it to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office for consideration of filing formal criminal charges. The internal investigation is ongoing.
However, the department said this incident prompted two "significant operational changes" within the police department ahead of that decision:
- All use of force incidents will now be immediately investigated and reviewed by an officer’s supervisor. It will then be evaluated at the district level by the chain of command
- An internal investigation will take place at the same time as a criminal investigation
Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo explained that previously, if an officer was accused of a crime, the criminal investigation was completed before the internal investigation was launched.
“We will now conduct a parallel internal affairs investigation and take our own independent action based on our findings," he said.
The full three videos are below. Some may find the content disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
