Officer who confronted black student resigning
BOULDER» The Boulder police officer who confronted a black Naropa student picking up trash outside his residence in March was found in violation of department policies and is resigning after an internal investigation.
The officer was identified Thursday as 40-yearold John Smyly, a 14-year veteran of the department with no prior disciplinary action.
Smyly, who had been on paid administrative leave since the incident, resigned before the conclusion of the disciplinary process, but police indicated the process would have likely resulted in suspension or termination.
While the department said it could not support a claim of racial profiling in Smyly’s March 1 encounter with Zayd Atkinson, he did violate two department policies: police authority and public trust and conduct.
As part of a settlement with the city, Smyly will resign from the police department but will remain under city employment until February 2020 as he exhausts accrued holiday, sick and administrative leave.
“Concluding the investigation allows the city to release all of the information relating to the incident, allowing community members to form their own opinions based on all of the available information,” Boulder City Attorney Tom Carr said in a statement. “The exchange between Officer Smyly and Mr. Atkinson does not represent the professionalism of the Boulder Police Department nor the community Boulder desires to be. While we have no proof that racial bias was a motivating factor, the internal affairs investigation resulted in sustained violations of police policies.”
Atkinson’s attorney, Siddhartha Rathod, said he was disappointed Smyly was not fired and instead was allowed to resign and remain on the city’s payroll until 2020.
“If you or I did what Officer Smyly did to Zayd Atkinson, not only would we be immediately fired, we would be criminally prosecuted,” Rathod said. “The city of Boulder is paying this officer nearly $80,000 for violating the constitutional rights of Zayd. The citizens of Boulder should be outraged that Boulder either doesn’t have the ability or the will to fire this officer and root out discrimination from this police department.”
Boulder officials did not immediately return a request for how much Smyly would be paid during his time on leave. But Carr did elaborate on the decision not to fire or suspend Smyly in the statement.
“A disciplinary appeal process required by the police collective bargaining agreement likely would have overturned a termination of the officer, and he would have returned to duty after extensive additional delay,” Carr said in the statement. “The settlement allowed the city to provide the community information more quickly, and it transitioned Officer Smyly out of a law enforcement career.”
A video of the incident was posted to social media, and in it Atkinson can be heard telling police he is on his own property and is just picking up trash.
A person can also be heard telling Atkinson he was likely racially profiled, but police determined that was said by the Naropa employee, not by any of the officers.
The report concluded that Smyly violated department policy during the encounter with Atkinson.
While it found Smyly violated department policy, the report indicated there was not enough evidence to support racial bias being a factor. Smyly told the department he could not tell which race Atkinson was when he first saw him.
The other responding officers were cleared of any wrongdoing by the report, but the department said the encounter has uncovered the need for further training.
“Based upon this investigation and concerns it raised, the Boulder Police Department will be initiating additional officer training concerning effective de-escalation of incidents,” the department wrote in a news release.
The incident has resulted in the Boulder City Council forming a committee to explore a police oversight committee, while the incident is still under an independent review.