Lawyer defends DPD sergeant’s use of force
A Denver police sergeant charged with assaulting a teenager during an arrest last year near Ruby Hill Park used reasonable force to protect himself from harm but was not responsible for breaking the suspect’s leg, the officer’s attorney argued Wednesday during the opening day of trial.
The statement in Denver District Court marks the first public defense for the actions of Sgt. Joseph Rodarte, who faces two assault charges from the August 2018 incident, in which he struck the 17-year-old six times with a metal baton, breaking his nose and leg.
The case marks a rare instance in which a Denver officer has been charged with a use-of-force crime while on duty.
In his opening statement Wednesday morning, Rodarte’s attorney, Chad Williams, painted the picture of an officer giving the teen every chance to give himself up, only to repeatedly resist arrest and attempt to escape. These actions, and the threats to officers, made it necessary for Rodarte to use force to make the arrest, Williams said.
The teen, a black male, admitted to police that he was high on LSD that day, and multiple people called 911 to report him yelling obscenities. Deputy district attorney Danny Paulson said the teen had done LSD before and never had a bad reaction, although he admitted taking more of the drug that night.
Williams and prosecutors referenced video of the incident Wednesday, which is
“These videos are intense and unpleasant, but they show everything, that what he did was only for the purpose of taking this person into custody.” Chad Williams, Rodarte’s attorney
captured on officers’ body cameras.
After officers confronted the teen on the street near the park, the boy took off running, ending up in an auto garage. The teen refused orders to lie down, Williams said, and burst out of the garage toward Rodarte. As he was running, Officer James Martinez stuck out his foot and tripped the teen, which caused him to stumble, Williams said. Rodarte, attempting to strike the suspect in the legs with his baton, instead hit the 17-yearold in the head.
After officers finally wrestled the teen to the ground, he attempted to bite one of them in the hand, Williams said. That’s when Rodarte struck the suspect again, the attorney said.
The broken leg, Williams argued, did not even involve Rodarte. When officers brought the teen to his feet, the weight on his right ankle caused it to break.
“These videos are intense and unpleasant, but they show everything,” Williams told the jury, “that what he did was only for the purpose of taking this person into custody.”
Paulson, in his opening statement, drew attention to what he said are discrepancies between Rodarte’s statement two hours after the incident and his actions shown on video. The officer never mentions that he thinks the teen may be armed, Paulson said. He never searched the suspect for a weapon.
“Two hours after this, what does he say?” Paulson said. “He said, ‘I was in reasonable fear of my life; I thought there was a gun.’ ” Rodarte used unnecessary and excessive force when he pressed nunchucks on the teen’s visibly broken leg, leaning on the leg and twisting it, Paulson said.
An objectively reasonable officer in this instance, Paulson argued, “would not have done what Sgt. Rodarte did.”
Rodarte has been the subject of at least 20 complaints involving use of force at the Denver Police Department. He has been cleared by the department’s internal affairs bureau in all but one of the cases.
The incident prompted outcry from city officials, including Mayor Michael Hancock.
Denver police officers rarely have been charged for use-of-force incidents. In May 2018, Cpl. Mike Oestmann was charged with third-degree assault for kneeing a suspect in the chest and punching him in the face while sitting in a chair and handcuffed. Oestmann pleaded guilty and did not receive jail time.