Principal says cops drew guns in search for student

Parents, staff members and students at a Denver alternative high school are up in arms over a police search in late April in which officers drew guns and conducted a classroom-to-classroom search for a student who administrators said was not in attendance.

Lucas Ketzer, principal at Rise Up Community School, told The Denver Post that Denver police officers pulled a gun on a staff member during the incident.

Denver police officers also pushed a science teacher away from her classroom door after she told officers they could not search her room without a warrant, Ketzer said.

Officers compared students to a photo of a juvenile wanted for attempted first-degree murder, pulled students out of their chairs, removed their hats and asked them for their IDs as they searched.

“This is not OK,” Ketzer said. “They acted inappropriately, and they know it. This happens with students of color more than people want to believe.”

The Denver Police Department released a statement to provide its version of what happened, and there are contradictions between the police account and those offered by Ketzer and some stu-

dents.

“Officers that were inside did not draw their weapons at any point during the search for the subject,” the statement said.

However, Ketzer said the police department is parsing words by talking only about officers inside the school.

One faculty member went out a back door to check for students during the search, he said, and multiple officers pointed their guns at her.

When asked to reconcile the contradictory accounts, Denver police spokesman Jay Casillas said, “At this point, we’re not aware of anyone pulling a gun on anyone.”

The incident has renewed talk of racial disparity in policing and the education system as community activists express outrage over the relationship between the police department and public schools and minority students. Rise Up has 110 students who are enrolled at the charter school because of previous struggles in traditional schools.

About three-fourths of the student body is Latino, and an additional 10 percent is black. Five percent are American-Indian, Ketzer said.

In a statement, Denver Public Schools said it was troubled by reports received from school staff members and students.

“As a diverse and inclusive school district, we are deeply aware that experiences with and perceptions of law enforcement have a profound impact on our city, particularly communities of color,” the statement said.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of our students, both physically and emotionally, and this situation has brought to the forefront the importance of conversations about how policing looks and feels inside our schools.”

Padres & Jóvenes Unidos, a community organization that works for racial justice in the education system, described the search as “police overreach” and called for an end to police presence inside schools, spokesman Jake Cousins said. The group also will demand an investigation into the incident during a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, 1860 Lincoln St.

Activists said a similar search never would have been conducted at a predominantly white school.

“If this would have happened at Cherry Creek High School, this would have broken the day it happened,” said Hasira Ashemu, an activist who leads Breaking Our Chains, a community group focused on ending the school-toprison pipeline.

“There is a double standard for other communities. This bias is what allows these issues to manifest themselves.”

The search happened April 24, when Denver Police Department officers arrived on the school’s downtown campus at 2342 Broadway to search for a suspect wanted by the Lakewood Police Department, according to the statement issued Wednesday by police.

“Officers received information that the suspect was in the school and, given the nature of the allegations, believed the suspect posed a possible threat to students and staff,” the statement said.

Officers set up outside the school to make sure the suspect did not leave, and they coordinated with the principal to gain access before searching, the statement said.

Because a staff member confirmed the suspect was in attendance and because officers believed there were “imminent and potentially dangerous circumstances,” a warrant was not needed to conduct a search, police said.

However, Ketzer said, the police statement is inaccurate.

Police never told Ketzer that the student was wanted on a charge of attempted first-degree murder.

Instead, officers said the student may have been involved in a shooting, Ketzer said.

“The first I’ve ever heard of attempted murder is in that press release,” he said.

Police arrived about 12:30 p.m., and a front-desk clerk unlocked the door for them because they were escorting a student, Ketzer said.

When officers said they were looking for another student, Ketzer said he would go to the classroom and notify the student. If the student agreed to meet with police, a room would be provided. If he did not want to meet, Ketzer would pass along contact information and encourage the student to respond.

“We always encourage our students to get in contact with law enforcement so they can deal with whatever they need to deal with,” Ketzer said.

The student was not in class and had left the campus. Ketzer said he told that to police.

“The officer then said, ‘I’m not sure I believe you,’” Ketzer said. “I repeated, ‘The student is not here.’”

Ketzer said he returned to his meeting, but 15 minutes later a staff member informed him that more police and the Denver Public Schools Department of Safety had arrived and wanted to search the building.

Ketzer said he texted his staff members to let them know police were coming to classrooms.

Denver Public Schools said Denver police had told its safety department that officers were surrounding Rise Up because a shooting suspect was inside.

“Understandably alarmed by the urgency of the dispatch, DPS officers responded to the school, including our Chief of Safety,” the statement said.

“Our Department of Safety officers believed they were responding to a critical incident involving a person with a weapon inside the school.”

The principal told the school safety chief that police had not described an “imminent safety risk” to him, and officers had been informed the student was not present, the statement said. The chief allowed the classroom search because there was conflicting information about the risk of an armed student on campus.

In a video released by Padres & Jóvenes Unidos, students describe what happened inside their classrooms.

Student Mary Jimenez said officers burst through her classroom door and “were in everybody’s face looking at us.” Officers lifted one student by his arm and made him remove a hat so they could get a better look at him. They then had an open discussion about whether or not he looked like the suspect, Jimenez said.

“At that point, I was like, ‘This is not OK,’” Jimenez said in the video.

The student body includes students who have had bad experiences with police and are distrustful. The incident has deepened that distrust, Ketzer said.

“The staff and students were traumatized,” he said.

The police department said in its statement that its command staff met with the principal immediately after the incident and offered a follow-up meeting to discuss the “best, safest way to manage any future incidents.”

“Our main goal in any situation involving a school is to ensure the safety of the students and staff,” police said.