OCCUPY DENVER

DPD Attempts Eviction Day After Christmas

HAHA OH WOW. Michael Hancock: Prostitution-ring case taken over by feds as Denver cops get some distance

​At this point, Denver Police Department reps aren’t saying why they handed over the Denver Players prostitution investigation to the feds. But no need to exhume Nostradamus to figure it out.

After all, there are approximately a gazillion reasons why the DPD would want to put an inquiry that touches on mayor-elect Michael Hancock at arm’s length…

 

What with the department under heavy scrutiny due to a slew of police brutality cases, including those pertaining to Michael DeHerrera and Alexander Landau, Chief Gerald Whitman’s job is hanging by a thread — and aggressively pursuing Hancock would be the equivalent of handing him a pair of scissors.

And then there’s the fact that the principal figures in the case, former owners Scottie Ewing and Brenda Stewart, are already deep into the judicial pipeline. Ewing is currently serving six months home detention on a single count of tax evasion — the same crime to which Stewart has pleaded guilty. When she’s sentenced in November, expect her punishment to be in a similar range.

That means the only wrists left to slap are attached to potential johns like Hancock. And as DPD spokesman Matt Murray implies in the 7News item linked above, it doesn’t make sense to expend lotsa police resources on what amount to petty offenses.

If Hancock used Denver Players — which he energetically denies — the possible damage is much greater politically than criminally, if only because proof that he lied would cast him in the Anthony Weiner role.

Meanwhile, the Denver Post continues to publish behind-the-scenes pieces to explain why it was so late to the party on the Hancock story. Today, it’s columnist Mike Littwin’s turn — not that he headed up the effort. As he explains, his involvement mainly consisted of driving colleague Chuck Plunkett to a meeting with Ewing in an office featuring the sign “You MUST have clothing on when exiting this room.” Classy.

Littwin pretty much acknowledges that the Post’s main info against Hancock involved Ewing’s records, which didn’t feature any dates, among other issues — and that the paper went forward with its reporting due to the mayor-elect reneging on a promise to provide “unfettered” records to prove his innocence, and not due to corroborating testimony from smoking prostitutes like the ones KHOW’s Peter Boyles — who Littwin dubs a “know-nothing morning radio personality” — keeps referencing on the air.

Given these and many other factors, the DPD’s decision to let the feds take charge of the inquiry makes perfect sense, albeit due to factors the department is unlikely to admit.

More from our Follow That Story archive: “Scottie Ewing-Michael Hancock link, election day break-in & the swing king’s tangled past.”

(old, but relevant) City Of Denver Went Over $1 Million In Police Brutality Settlements Monday Night

Last night, Denver’s police force settlements spilled over $1 million in payouts from the city this year alone.

Denver’s city council voted unanimously on Monday to settle two excessive force lawsuits for $80,000.

In 2008, Brighton volunteer firefighter Jared Lunn was heckled and then punched by another man while carrying a pizza to his car. When he spotted Officer Eric Sellers, he asked the officer for help but Sellers allegedly refused. When Lunn made a sarcastic comment, Sellers placed him in a chokehold on the ground, handcuffed him and reportedly wouldn’t let him leave until he’d apologized. After a 40-day suspension, Sellers resigned and the Denver City Council settled his case for $45,000.

Two years later in a separate case, Denver Police were caught on videotape in the shocking beating of Mark Ashford. Ashford had been walking his dogs when he saw police pull someone over for running a stop sign, and he offered to testify that the driver had stopped. Officers John Diaz and Jeff Cook then came over, when they detained and beat him.

“They punched him and pinned him up against the fence and forced his head into the concrete,” Ashford’s attorney, Will Hart said.

The Denver Post reports that Diaz retired before the case reached its conclusion and Cook did not face punishment for excessive force. Ashford reportedly settled for $35,000.

Videos are available below depicting incidents of Denver Police brutality that have either produced firings within the department or been settled this year.

WATCH:

Marvin Booker1 of 7Though the Denver coroner’s office ruled Booker’s July 9, 2010 death a homicide, the five officers who used excessive force on the 56-year-old—including a sleeper hold and Taser gun—Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey decided not to press charges against the five sheriff’s deputies in May of this year. The video of Booker’s death was released on the same day the DA decided not to punish deputies.

In turn, the decision not to discipline quickly prompted a call for an investigationof the Denver Police Department from the ACLU by the Department of Justice.