If cops are convicted they will face charges: Attorney Black girls handcuffed, probe on
Denver, Aug. 8: Prosecutors are investigating whether suburban Denver police officers should face criminal charges for putting four Black girls on the ground and handcuffing two of them after mistakenly suspecting they were riding in a stolen car, a district attorney said Friday.
The incident on Sunday attracted national attention after a video of the girls — some in tears — being detained in a parking lot spread on social media. The traffic stop happened in Aurora, where officers are also being investigated following the death of 23year-old Elijah McClain after he was placed in a chokehold last year.
In the Sunday incident, officers eventually determined the car carrying the girls, ranging in age from 6 to 17, had the same license plate number as the one they were seeking from another state. Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson and the department are cooperating with the investigation, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler said in his announcement.
He called the public accounts of the confrontation “very concerning.” “Everyone is entitled to be treated equally under the law,” he said. “No one is above the law. If our investigation determines that
BRAUCHLER IS a Republican and a vocal defender of law enforcement, but earlier this year he criticised members of Aurora’s police department for helping shield an officer found passed out in his patrol car from criminal prosecution for suspected drinking and driving.
the officers involved committed a crime, I will not hesitate to file charges and prosecute them.”
Brauchler is a Republican and a vocal defender of law enforcement, but earlier this year he criticised members of Aurora’s police department for helping shield an officer found passed out in his patrol car from criminal prosecution for suspected drinking and driving.
Aurora police apologised after the video taken by a bystander showed the girls, with the 17-year-old and a 12-year-old lying on their stomachs with their hands cuffed behind their backs. A 14-year-old girl was lying next to the 6-year-old, also on their stomachs next to the car. They can be heard crying and screaming as officers stand with their backs to the camera. A woman on the other side of the car is seen being led away in handcuffs. An officer eventually helped the handcuffed girls sit up but left them with their hands behind their backs, and police eventually determined they had stopped the wrong car.
Part of the reason for the mix-up might have been that the car had been reported as stolen earlier in the year, police said. Driver Brittney Gilliam, who had taken her nieces, sister and daughter out for a day at a nail salon, has characterised the officers’ actions as police brutality. “There’s no excuse why you didn’t handle it a different type of way,” Gilliam said.
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