AFTER NIGHTS OF CALM, PEPPER SPRAY USED
Police say court’s rules followed when protester arrested.
Denver police arrested a protester Thursday night and used pepper spray on a group, ending a series of nights of relative calm between protesters and police.
A June 5 order by a federal judge strictly limits how and when Denver police can use pepper spray on protesters. The attorneys who filed the case prompting the federal order are investigating the Thursday night incident and whether police followed the court order when they used the spray.
“We’ve asked the city attorney to give us the body camera footage and the reports involved,” attorney Ross Ziev said.
Jay Casillas, a Denver police spokesman, said the department followed the rules of the federal order during the incident.
The protester was arrested at East 14th Avenue and Lincoln Street on suspicion of interfering with police and refusing to move from a roadway that the demonstrators had been blocking, Casillas said.
“At one point, the demonstrators and protesters were rocking vehicles that were there or jumping on top of the vehicles, so officers went and they told protesters to get off the roadway,” Casillas said. “Most of them complied except for that one.”
A probable cause statement for the arrest states that police arrived at the intersection after a woman called 911 to report that protesters were striking her car and that five of them had climbed onto her vehicle. When police arrived, they used a speaker to tell the group of about 50 demonstrators to get off the roadway, according to the police document.
While police arrested the man, the group of protesters moved closer to the officers and shouted at them, multiple videos from the intersection show. “Let him go! Let him go!” the group chanted.
“A large crowd of protesters approached officers in an aggressive manner,” the probable cause statement reads. “Sgt. Torgeson called for additional officers to respond emergent.”
One of the officers yelled “Get back!” at the group before using pepper spray about 8 seconds later, one video shows. Another video of the same incident shows the officer spraying the chemical at the group of protesters closest to him and then turning and spraying it more widely.
The probable cause statement does not give any information about the use of pepper spray.
The restraining order mandates that an officer with the rank of lieutenant or above authorize the use of pepper spray before it can be deployed. The probable cause statement shows a lieutenant was on scene.
The order also forbids Denver police from using pepper spray unless an order to disperse is given and groups are given adequate time for people to comply with that order.
“If it appears that the intended audience was unable to hear the order, the order must be repeated prior to the use of chemical agents or irritants,” U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote.