Progress with police oversight
The Denver Post Editorial Board
Posted:04/30/2007 01:00:00 AM MDT
A Department of Public Safety video of a Denver police officer repeatedly using a taser on a handcuffed prisoner is shocking enough, but then there was the bald-faced lie that an officer told in an official report to whitewash the incident.
This episode is a great example of why Denver can be grateful for the improved workings of police oversight. Supervisors viewed the tape and ordered an internal affairs investigation and they can be commended for putting the review on course. The city's new police monitor and citizen oversight panel were instrumental in unraveling the deception, revealing the abuse and putting forward a remedy.
The videotape was released last week at the conclusion of the investigation and in the wake of a March report from police monitor Richard Rosenthal. The tape shows three officers escorting suspect Kenneth Rodriguez, his hands cuffed behind his back, into a cell. Suddenly, Officer Randall Krouse raises the taser to Rodriguez's neck and begins firing. Rodriguez drops to the floor, as Krouse continues to discharge the device and other officers push or hold Rodriguez down. The officers then exit the cell, leaving the prisoner lying still on the floor.
The Jan. 6, 2006, incident was one of 1,078 misconduct allegations logged against Denver police last year. Mayor John Hickenlooper and the City Council created the monitor's position in the wake of the 2003 shooting death of a developmentally disabled boy by police officer James Turney and community outcry when Turney was given only a 10-month suspension.
Rosenthal said that Reserve Officer Lewis Cullar falsely accused Rodriguez of pushing him into a wall to justify Krouse's use of the taser. His report said that Rodriguez "was clearly not engaging in active aggression." Denver police policy says an officer is not allowed to stun someone in the neck except when "deadly force" is warranted.
Cullar was dismissed for filing a false report. Krouse was suspended for 60 days for using excessive force. Charges against Rodriguez were dropped. Rosenthal said he favored a suspension for Krouse rather than firing him because the officer had a previously "unblemished service record."
Thanks to the city's new police monitoring process, Krouse must consider himself on notice, and other officers should note the consequence if they use excessive force.
The public can be satisfied that officers will be held accountable when such incidents occur.