Officer suspended for slapping drunk woman
A Denver Police Department officer was given a 10day suspension for slapping a drunk woman who was being combative at the city’s detox center.
Officer Joseph Humphrey, who was hired in 2006, was suspended in November for inappropriate use of force, according to his disciplinary letter. Humphrey also lost eight hours of vacation time in November for violating the police department’s firearms efficiency policy when he failed to complete mandatory training during the second quarter of 2017, according to a second disciplinary letter.
On July 27, Humphrey detained a woman, identified in his letter as “AR,” after he saw her stumbling across West Colfax Avenue. The woman was carrying a camping hatchet in her sock and a needle in a pocket, the disciplinary letter said. She later told internal investigators that she had consumed, “about, like, a gallon” of schnapps earlier in the day.
Humphrey took the woman to Denver Cares, a Cherokee Street facility where people are taken to get sober under the care of medical professionals. There, the woman became combative, arguing with the staff and positioning herself in a fighting stance.
The staff placed the woman in an isolation room where she stuffed her shoes into the toilet, the letter said.
Humphrey used an arm twist to get her to sit on a bench, but the woman kept standing up. At one point, she appeared to hit her head and shoulder on a wall while stumbling.
When the woman tried to stand again, Humphrey pushed her onto the bench. She punched him in the left forearm with a closed fist, the letter said. The punch dislodged a scab on Humphrey’s arm and he later told investigators that the sharp pain caused him to react.
That’s when the Humphrey slapped the woman and then shoved her head against the wall while cursing and telling her, “You do not hit a cop,” the letter said.
A second officer who had been called to assist Humphrey at the detox center intervened. Humphrey, however, told investigators that he had not been able to rely on assistance from a fellow officer because none was available.
Internal investigators determined that Humphrey struck the woman in the face out of anger. Instead, he should have closed the door to the isolation room and walked away, his disciplinary letter said.
“It is more likely than not, considering the totality of the circumstances, that Officer Humphrey struck AR because he was angry at her for hitting his arm with a closed fist,” the letter said.