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Denver becoming a police state

This Web only Speakout has not been edited.

David Hopkins

Published May 31, 2008 at 6 a.m.

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Well, well, what a surprise. Another Denver “peace” officer has assaulted another unarmed citizen. Last week an attorney for 16-year-old Juan Guillermo Vazquez filed a lawsuit accusing five Denver police officers of assault. The lawsuit states Vazquez was drinking alcohol and ran from the police. He fled and hopped some fences when an officer ordered him to stop, then threw a flashlight at him so hard it shattered on impact.

Vazquez fell and was jumped on by an officer who yelled, “you little (expletive) you made me break my flashlight". As he was being beaten by other “officer’s", 12 year police veteran Charles Porter reportedly grabbed a fence top for leverage, and repeatedly jumped up and down on the 130 pound teen-ager’s back as Vazquez begged for his life. Vazquez was hospitalized with a lacerated liver, ruptured spleen, kidney damage, and bruised or cracked ribs. Vazquez was also handcuffed to his hospital bed for three days while in intensive care. Porter has been charged with felony assault and has been suspended without pay. Now that’s severe! If I did that to someone, I wouldn’t be able to bail out of jail! But this kind of disgusting police misconduct has long been a criterion of the Denver P.D. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in criminology and graduated from a p.o.s.t. Certified police academy, and I think this is becoming more of a police state every day.

Did you know that if you drive through the City and County of Denver on your way to the mountains to go hunting, and you have all the proper licenses and have paid all the fees, and they pull you over, and find a hunting weapon in your car, be it in the trunk, unloaded, or anywhere in the vehicle, they can arrest you, confiscate your weapon and your car, and sell them both at one of their police auctions, further padding their coffers? Why not? Police misconduct and wrongful death settlement money has to come from somewhere, right? I don’t live in Denver, but if I did, the last agency I would call in an emergency situation would be the Denver P.D. What if I answered the door to let them in and had a can of pop in my hand, would I get shot like Frank Lobato?

Lobato was shot to death while watching television in bed, after the “officer” who crawled into his bedroom window thought the can of pop the elderly grandfather was holding was a “gun". Ismael Mena was shot to death in his home when the Denver S.W.A.T. team burst into his house during one of their “no-knock” raids, acting on information from one of their drug informants, (an impeccable source, I’m sure), only finding they had the wrong address after Mena had been shot to death. Mena and Lobato’s families received “justice” for these outrageous acts in the form of monetary settlements. Naturally, none of the “officers” involved in these outrageous acts have ever been charged, much less convicted, of anything. They’re still out there, “protecting and serving". Even money says this latest “incident” gets swept under the rug as well.

David Hopkins is a resident of Littleton.

Comments

  • May 31, 2008

    6:28 a.m.

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    Mike_In_Hartsel writes:

    David Hopkins apparently believes everything bad he reads about the Denver police while not telling us what he does for a real living. FYI, Dave, the police have a tough job and they are not allowed to foul up, as you are, and walk away. Police officers all over the country are killed or attacked while making routine traffic stops and you don't think they have a right to defend themselves? Your version of the events omits the police description as well as the circumstances before the police arrived. You've wouldn't be a cop-hater would you Dave?

  • May 31, 2008

    6:53 a.m.

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    vudumom writes:

    Is any police department perfect? Where in this country is a police department called a "peace department"? Police are human and that leaves the door open for abuse,mistakes and errors. Some of the abuses are troubling. Some of the mistakes are deadly. Some of the errors are glaring. We still have 99.9% of police officers that do a thankless job everyday. Their reasons for being a police officer are varied. No one knows what it is like to be in a police officers shoes , unless they have been there.
    Painting the police department and the men and women who serve with such a broad brush is stupid and misinformed.

    Just because there are a few bad apples in the department, it does not mean the entire police department are the same.Implying that the whole police department is crooked and wrong is like saying ...

    Every teacher is a child molester.

  • May 31, 2008

    12:20 p.m.

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    prk166 writes:

    If there's a real problem in the department, we should see it in the numbers. Pointing out a couple of thumpers doesn't prove there's an overall problem in the department. If there's not one, then stirring things up only distracts from real problems.

  • May 31, 2008

    6:21 p.m.

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    arby writes:

    Vasquez put himself in danger by not following instructions. Cops do what they do so they can come home in one piece.

    That being said. This officer crossed the line for violence and it seems others did as well. He may get fired but he'll just get another job paying less in a small town and keep beating on people.

    The police are here "To serve and protect" Ha Ha Ha.
    Ask Emily Rice's family. Read Bill Johnson's column.

  • May 31, 2008

    8:37 p.m.

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    Sweetpickle writes:

    Someone should start a memorial for those bystanders and drunks who keep getting killed by the police. I'll contribute.
    A nice marker on 16th or in one of the parks.

    I will be amazing if they don't kill a few DNC attenders.

  • June 1, 2008

    6:06 a.m.

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    gary writes:

    A "police state" really?

    That is unless you are an illegal alien living in Denver.

    Tell how the Denver Police are so tough on them David Hopkins.

    Laws do not apply to the illegals...the mayor and the rest of City Hall works hard to keep Denver a sanctuary city for all of them.

    Nuff Said!

  • June 2, 2008

    7:25 a.m.

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    JSeifert writes:

    I actually had a police office ask me if I was going hunting and if I had a weapon in my vehicle as I was pumping gas a couple years ago. I explained Yes I did and that it was unloaded and locked in a case and the ammo stored in another locked box. He then went on to explain that it was illegal in Denver I explained to him I did not live in Denver but he explained it did not matter and not to get smart with him. Needless to say he let me go aftar calling it in. The Station clerk explain that the police office had been there all morning doing the same thing to everyone in orange. I asked did he arrest anyone he said no because everyone was out of towners. People in Denver do not Hunt.

  • June 2, 2008

    7:28 a.m.

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    T1anda writes:

    Vudumom....Well said!!!!

  • June 3, 2008

    9:23 a.m.

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    1FstMonte writes:

    Vudumom - You're right on! Hey David, ask Donnie Young's widow if we live in a "police state". The police only enforce laws that the goof-ball council people and legislators enact. Who keeps voting for these dip-sticks anyway??

  • June 3, 2008

    1:16 p.m.

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    P_Denver writes:

    Let's see -- the Denver police probably make 10,000 uneventful arrests a year (yes - I'm just guessing) plus another 10,000 non-arrest "contacts" with civilians that result in no problems at all. Against that, they have a literal handful of lawbreakers who end up being unduly injured. And - once in a great while - a truly innocent person being victimized.

    Assuming that RoboCop is still in the far-distant future and that error-prone human beings will remain on the thin blue line for a while, what are our options? Eliminate the police force? Probably not a good idea. Ask everyone to please not break the law, so officers will not need to respond to possible crime scenes? Maybe a tad unrealistic.

    How about this: accept incidents rates that are far, far lower than even airplane crashes and go on with our lives without whining too much? Nah -- too much to ask for in this victim mentality, "police-state" republic of Denver.

  • June 3, 2008

    1:19 p.m.

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    P_Denver writes:

    Oh, yeah . . . and to address Ricky-poo: I'm sure you're around 24/7, gun in hand, ready to defend your family. They never go out without you, their big, bad protector -- who probably never shot anyone in his life. Bad guy. Right. You'd most likely be the first one to sue the police for non-response if you ever needed them.

  • June 10, 2008

    7:21 p.m.

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    Player1 writes:

    Arby, Emily Rice did that to herself NOT THE POLICE OR SHERIFFS!!!! If any one is to blame it would be the Hospital (DHMC). It's great to see that personal responsability has gone out the window!!!! You drink and drive #%!*happens!!!!