Police sergeant acquitted in Springs

A Colorado Springs police sergeant arrested in January on accusations that he kicked and strangled a secured suspect while responding to a traffic crash last year was acquitted Friday of all counts.

Prosecutors say Steven Michael Biscaro was found not guilty of felony menacing and third-degree assault in the case.

Authorities alleged the incident happened in December 2015 as Biscaro was dispatched to assist an El Paso County Sheriff’s deputy who was detaining a man, identified as Michael Ferguson.

The deputy reported the allegations, saying Biscaro had punched, kicked and pulled Ferguson by his leg chains from the back of a patrol car before kneeling on him. Biscaro was arrested in January.

The Gazette reported that during a trial this week Biscaro denied choking Ferguson and kneeling on him while he was on the ground.

Biscaro told the court, according to the Colorado Springs newspaper, that the situation could have been avoided if Ferguson had complied with law enforcement’s commands on the scene.

“I acted on what I had. I did what I had to do,” Biscaro testified, The Gazette reported.

The 4th Judicial District Attorney’s office said the acquittal was handed down by an El Paso County jury.

Lt. Howard Black, spokesman for the Colorado Springs Police Department, said Biscaro remains employed by the agency.