4 cops in case cleared byDA

Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey will not pursue criminal charges against four Denver police officers who killed a Colorado parolee during a February shootout that also wounded an officer.

In a decision letter addressed to Police Chief Robert White, Morrissey wrote that Gerardino Cayetano-Gonzalez put officers and the public at risk when he led police on a wild car chase, crashed and began firing a pistol as he ran — all in broad daylight.

“It appears that Cayetano-Gonzalez was determined to escape or die trying as he had a number of opportunities to surrender to authorities but at each point chose not to,” Morrissey’s letter said. “His actions led to his death.”

Officer Rachel Eid, the first officer to confront Cayetano-Gonzalez, was shot in the ankle during the chase and shootout.

“We are fortunate Officer Eid was not more badly injured and that no others were hurt,” the letter said.

The shootout happened Feb. 22 after police responded to a burglary in progress at a home in the 3000 block of West 37th Avenue. They caught one suspect, but Cayetano-Gonzalez fled. Shots were fired near the intersection of Lowell Boulevard and West Moncrieff Place and again in the 3500 block of Lowell Boulevard.

Cayetano-Gonzalez was a member of the GKI street gang and was on parole. While on parole, he had been sent to jail three times between Nov. 30 and Feb. 9 for violations such as failed drug tests, curfew violations and missed treatment sessions. He was released from jail Feb. 16, less than a week before he died in the shootout.

His jail stays were part of a new effort at the Colorado Department of Corrections to reduce the prison population by giving parolees second — and sometimes third — chances when they violate rules.

Law enforcement officials, including Morrissey, have been critical of the new policy.

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