Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 8, 2026

Erin Pruitt has filed a Complaint and Jury Demand against Aurora police department officers for violating her rights under the Colorado Constitution to be free from unlawful seizure and under the Law Enforcement Integrity Act.

The Aurora Police Department investigated multiple individuals alleged to have pimped a young neurodivergent woman. The alleged victim identified one of the perpetrators as a transgender woman who lived at a different apartment, but at the same apartment complex, as Ms. Pruitt. The allegations included very specifically the apartment unit number of the alleged transgender perpetrator, whom she identified by the name Amber.

An Aurora detective and other officers, rather than attempting to arrest the alleged perpetrator at the apartment number the alleged victim provided, did a search of the entire apartment complex and identified Ms. Pruitt as a transgender woman living in another unit. They provided the alleged victim with photos of Ms. Pruitt, and the alleged victim did not confirm that it was the perpetrator. Per Ms. Pruitt’s Complaint:

Facts that would have raised significant concerns for a reasonable officer include that 1) Amber’s legal name is William. Plaintiff’s legal name is Eric; 2) Plaintiff did not live at the address the alleged victim provided; 3) Plaintiff’s only similarities to the alleged victim are that they are both transgender and lived in the same apartment building; 4) a significant age difference of twenty-one (21) years between the true suspect and Plaintiff; 5) the true suspect has a history of military service Plaintiff does not and; 6) confirmation from Plaintiff, the Apartment Manager, and upon information and belief, Amber herself, that Plaintiff is not Amber.

When an Aurora officer showed up with an arrest warrant for Ms. Pruitt, even the apartment manager, of his own volition, informed the officer that there was a transgender woman named Amber in the apartment number the alleged victim had provided, thus independently confirming that the officer had the wrong person. The officer even spoke to Amber, but asked leading, unhelpful questions of her such as “is your name Eric Pruitt?” When Amber responded no to the officer’s questions, the officer returned to Ms. Pruitt’s apartment and carried out the arrest.

This lawsuit seeks to hold Aurora police responsible for taking unlawful and harmful shortcuts in their investigation of a serious crime. These shortcuts led to the unlawful arrest of Ms. Pruitt and left the perpetrator free.

Ms. Pruitt seeks actual damages as well as compensatory and consequential damages in amounts to be determined at a jury trial. Cassandra Zobel and Darren O’Connor of Zobel Law and Darren O’Connor Law look forward to getting justice for Ms. Pruitt, and to inform Aurora police, in no uncertain terms, that simply sharing status as a transgender woman is an insufficient basis to assume an alleged perpetrator matches the description given by an alleged victim, when that description readily provides the police with enough information to locate and arrest the proper person.

###

Contact: Darren O’Connor, 720.961.3869, darreno@dolawllcocm

Darren O’Connor, Esq.

Darren O’Connor  Law, LLC

Tel.: 720.961.3869

www.dolawllc.com

The post Aurora Police Sued After Arresting Wrong Person in Trafficking Investigation appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team is investigating an incident where a man was shot and killed during a traffic stop in late August on Sixth Avenue in Aurora.

The Aurora Police Department has yet to name the police officer who was involved in the shooting. 

At 7:31 p.m., Aug. 30, an Aurora police officer was attempting to stop a vehicle for a traffic violation on Sixth Avenue east of U.S 225 when the driver struck another car traveling eastbound, according to Aurora Police Department’s press release. 

Rajon Belt-Stubbefield sitting with his kids and wife Tandra Blankson. (courtesy of Belt-Stubblefield’s family)

After the collision with the first vehicle, Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said that the driver, later identified as Rajon Belt-Stubblefield, 37, traveled over the median and collided with a second vehicle heading westbound. 

Chamberlain addressed the community right outside of the crime scene on the night of the incident.

During the press conference, he said that when the officer approached Belt-Stubblefield after the crash, he gave him commands to exit his vehicle.

“At some point, after much conversation […] the suspect stepped out of the car and started to move toward the sidewalk area,” said Chamberlain. “What we do know right now, is that it appears at some point that a gun was seen by an officer on the ground, and the suspect appeared to be walking towards that weapon.” 

Ben Crump, a prominent civil rights lawyer, is representing Belt-Stubblefield’s family alongside Attorneys Milo Schwab, Harry Daniels, Mari Newman and Barbara Clouse in an ongoing civil case. In the past, Crump has represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, and Michael Brown.

‘Don’t shoot me’

In body camera footage, which was released to the public on Sept. 12, the officer activated his lights, conducted a traffic stop, and approached Belt-Stubblefield’s car with his gun already drawn. 

Once police gave him a command, Belt-Stubblefield can be seen in the bodycam footage saying, “don’t shoot me” and getting out of his car. He then made his way to the sidewalk where he proceeded to throw a gun in the grass. 

The officer can be seen in the bodycam footage subsequently pulling Belt-Stubblefield’s shirt and pushing him onto the ground. 

During the struggle, the officer fell to the ground while Belt-Stubblefield stood up and backed away further down the sidewalk. The officer is then seen in the footage standing back up and advancing towards Belt-Stubblefield with his gun pointed at him. 

“While (Belt-Stubblefield) was walking towards our officer, he began to shout at other people [… ]‘get the shit’[…] over and over,” said Chamberlain. “This is all speculation, but it seems that he was referring to having someone retrieve that handgun”. 

The bodycam footage also shows the officer attempting to punch Belt-Stubblefield before saying, “I’ll shoot you”. 

Rajon Belt-Stubblefield (courtesy of Belt-Stubblefield’s family)

While the officer and Belt-Stubblefield back into the street, Belt-Stubblefield’s son Zion can be heard in the footage saying “officer chill”, and “dad chill”. 

Then, Belt-Stubblefield stopped moving forward and turned around to say ‘get the shit’ with his back facing the officer. That’s when the officer is seen in the footage punching Belt-Stubblefield in the back of the head, causing him to stumble forward.  

“This was not a singular event […] We had an officer by himself who saw some type of violation, he tried to make a traffic stop. The behavior of the suspect was not normal – he plowed into another vehicle in front of him which caused such force to go across the median and into oncoming traffic. He then crashed into another car,” said Chamberlain. “He refused to adhere to what the officer was saying, he immediately became aggressive, he approached the officer, there was a weapon on scene that we know without question”. 

Chamberlain also said that the officer de-escalated the incident on multiple levels, both verbally as well as physically.

“We are going to investigate every aspect of this. This is without question, a tragedy at every level,” said Chamberlain. “There is nothing positive about this […] And all of this could’ve been adverted, had there just been a communication and the suspect listened to directions”. 

Chamberlain said that it doesn’t appear that any of the people involved in the crash were injured and that they will also be witnesses in the investigation. 

‘He was unarmed’

MiDian Holmes of the Urban Leadership Foundation

MiDian Shofner, CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership and a key witness of the incident, was taking a ‘self-care day’ and on her way to Beauty Supply Warehouse at 13870 E 6th Pl. in Aurora when she witnessed Belt-Stubblefield getting shot by police.

“I came under the bridge, and probably, I don’t know, less than 30 seconds later, I felt that high impact collision from behind where I was hit by Rajon,” said Shofner. 

After seeing broken glass on the street and airbags deployed, Shofner stepped out of her vehicle to see if everyone involved in the collision was OK. 

“That’s when I saw the officer out of his vehicle with a gun already drawn,” Shofner said. “So I called out, ‘put your gun away and do your job’. But, you know, traffic was coming. There was no reaction. I don’t know if the officer heard me or not”.

Shofner said that during the altercation she saw the officer punch Belt-Stubblefield in the back of the head while he had his back turned. 

“It took maybe all of a couple seconds for the officer to pop off three shots. Then I saw Rajon fall to the ground,” said Shofner. “That’s when I started screaming out, ‘Render aid! You need to render aid’”.

At that moment, Shofner said that there was a part of her that didn’t want it to be real. 

“I felt so compelled to say, ‘Wait a second, can we just rewind this and start over?” Shofner said. “I didn’t want it to be real, because it was so traumatic, it was so gory, and it was so unwarranted”. 

Shofner stated that it was clear to her that Belt-Stubblefield purposefully disarmed himself. 

“As that third shot rang out, I saw flesh from Rajon leave his body as he fell, and that’s something that you can never unsee.” said Shofner. “I saw utter disregard for him as a person, because, from where I was standing, he was unarmed.”

‘A less lethal option was an option’ 

After Belt-Stubblefield was shot, a woman can be seen in the bodycam footage getting out of her car and offering the officer a tourniquet, stating that she is a first responder. 

The officer who shot Belt-Stublefield can be heard in the bodycam footage responding, “This is not a tourniquet kind of thing, thank you”. 

Shofner said that the shock she felt quickly turned to anger. 

“I remember feeling so infuriated that this happened […] And then something in me just told me to speak,” said Shofner. “And that’s when I just started screaming everything that was in my head. I kept saying, ‘a less lethal option was an option’[…] I was telling the officer, ‘you didn’t have to do this. You didn’t even render aid’”.

During the press conference on Aug. 30, Chamberlain addressed statements that the police didn’t administer aid to Belt-Stubblefield after he fell to the ground. 

Aurora Chief Chamberlain Speaking at Press Conference

“To be able to render aid, you have to feel secure in being able to provide that aid. If that officer felt threatened, if that officer felt he couldn’t do it it’s because he had to be more in control of the scene around him, to ensure his safety and the safety of the community,” said Chamberlain.

Shofner said that when Chamberlain was speaking at the press conference that he was clearly trying to paint a narrative.

“When Todd Chamberlain gave his first update, he was very theatric in a lot of the language that he used,” said Shofner. “Rajon was blatantly disarming himself, making it very clear, ‘This weapon is completely out of my hands’,” said Shofner. “Then (Chamberlain) tried to tell us what Rajon’s intentions were, and Rajon is no longer alive to speak to it.” 

According to Shofner, Chamberlain’s accounts of the incident were neither truthful nor transparent. 

“And what Todd Chamberlain also forgot to do was tell us about the history of the officer who was involved, Officer Matthew Neeley,” said Shofner.

Aurora Police Department’s History of Excessive Force

An 18th Judicial District Court Judge ruled on May 2, 2019 that Aurora Police Officer Matthew Neely gave false testimony during a motion hearing on a burglary case in Arapahoe District Court.

During the ruling, the judge stated on the record that, “Officer Timmons and Officer Neely are not credible. They testified inconsistent with the video that the Court observed, so the Court finds that their other testimony regarding what happened when the video is not on is not credible and the Court is not willing to believe any of it”. 

Additionally, the Judge stated that the arrest was unconstitutional and that the use of force was unjustified.

Specifically in the ruling, the judge said that “law enforcement had no reason to conduct a frisk of the defendant, no specific reason to believe that he was armed or dangerous, possessing any weapons on his person. They were not conducting a lawful arrest, so this was not an arrest — or search incident to arrest, this was a blatant violation of his constitutional rights, searching through his pockets to try and find evidence of a crime.

During a press conference on Sept. 12 with Belt-Stubblefield’s family and lawyers, Attorney Milo Schwab discussed Aurora Police Department’s history of excessive force. 

“The Attorney General said that (Aurora Police Department) engages in bias policing- they have a pattern and practice of excessive force,” said Schwab. “They use force against black men five times more than against anybody else. This is a police department with a deep culture of racism, a deep culture of bias, and a deep culture of using force instead of their words”. 

Schwab continued, addressing other officer-involved shootings that have occurred in Aurora in past years. 

“We are here yet again, planning a funeral for someone we shouldn’t be. This is the second time this summer that an Aurora police officer has killed someone, a man of color who was unarmed. Every year it seems we are burying another brother,” said Schwab. 

Crump also spoke with Belt-Stubblefield’s family at his side. 

September Press conference with Crump, Belt-Stubblefield Family, and Attorneys

“We are here to say we are not gonna let you sweep this under the rug. He was a husband, he was a father, he was a man trying to take care of his children,” Crump said. “You can’t sanitize this execution. You can’t give us no narrative. Once you see it, you know in your soul that it was unjustified. We are going to raise the justice baton for our brother Rajon”. 

Shofner said that the Aurora Police Department is not ready for ‘the legal prowess’ of Crump and other attorneys. 

“First and most importantly, as we go into this journey of justice, it’s going to be long, it’s going to be hard, and it’s going to be painful,” said Shofner. “ At this time, what the family is seeking from the community is to make sure that Rajon’s name stays lifted, that we don’t let his name fade out –  that we ensure that whenever there is an opportunity to show up and to speak up in the name of Rajon, that we do it in mass.”

Although it was incredibly traumatic and hard to watch, Shofner said it was divine intervention that she ended up witnessing the incident. 

“At the end of the day, I watched that officer bait Rajon into his own execution, and I’ve seen no accountability since”.

The Aurora Police Department declined to comment due to multiple ongoing investigations.

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The post “Raise the Baton for Brother Rajon”: APD Traffic Stop Turns Deadly appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Courtesy of the Colorado Sentinel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 09.15.2025

Statement on the Release of the Aurora Police Department Body Camera Footage in the Modern-Day Lynching of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield

Aurora, CO — The release of the Aurora Police Department’s body camera footage does not bring clarity. It confirms what our spirits already knew. Officer Matthew Neely did not approach that accident scene with the intention to protect or preserve life. He approached with his weapon drawn, his mind made up, and his actions anchored in aggression.

In his final moments, Rajon Belt-Stubblefield spoke words that echo through generations of Black suffering in this country: “Don’t shoot me.” What followed was not any effort at de-escalation. Instead, Officer Neely chose violence in every decision he made. Rajon disarmed himself, posed no lethal threat, and yet was treated as an enemy rather than as a man who had just survived a collision. He was pushed, punched, and ultimately executed under the color of law.

Chief Todd Chamberlain previously claimed he would be providing the “facts.” With the release of this footage, it is clear his statements were designed to spin a narrative that dehumanized and criminalized Rajon while shielding an officer whose actions were reckless, unjustifiable, and fatally flawed. The truth is now undeniable: it was Rajon, not Officer Neely, who resisted escalation. It was Rajon, not the Aurora Police Department, who fought to survive an encounter stacked against him from the start.

This tragedy reflects the culture of the Aurora Police Department. Aurora’s police culture is not built to serve and protect. It is built to spin and control. And culture is a reflection of leadership. City Manager Jason Batchelor’s unilateral appointment of Todd Chamberlain, absent community voice, denied this city accountability. Today, Aurora reaps the consequences of decisions made in secrecy and sustained by silence.

The legal pursuit of justice in Aurora has now been activated. Attorneys Ben Crump, Milo Schwab, Mari Newman, and Barbara Clouse represent a relentless pursuit of truth that fortifies this community in its fight.

To the City of Aurora: you are being summoned by truth, by grief, and by justice. You are being called to confront what is inevitable. It is time to dismantle a culture of policing that has preyed upon the lives of Black men, women, and children for far too long. You cannot spin your way out of accountability. You cannot control your way out of justice. Aurora must face what is coming. Because the community, the courts, and history itself will demand it.

Rajon deserved life. His family deserves justice. And this city deserves better than the silence and complicity that has long passed for leadership.

Media Contact: Info@BeTheEpitome.org

For the Culture,

MiDian Holmes of the Urban Leadership Foundation

Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership

Communications Team

Historic Five Points

Denver, CO. 80205

(720) 600-7075, ext 103

www.BeTheEpitome.org

The post Statement on the Release of the Aurora Police Department Body Camera Footage in the Modern-Day Lynching of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

For Immediate Release
Date: 09/02/2025

Response to Chief Todd Chamberlain’s Remarks on the Killing of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield

Aurora, CO – The Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership issues this statement in response to the press update by Chief Todd Chamberlain of the Aurora Police Department regarding the officer-involved shooting (modern-day lynching) of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield.

On the Weapon Allegation

Chief Chamberlain suggests that Mr. Belt-Stubblefield’s alleged possession of a weapon is incriminating. We see the opposite: if Mr. Belt-Stubblefield indeed discarded a weapon into a grass-covered area, that is an act of DISARMING himself, not threatening the officer or the community. To claim otherwise is to twist fact into fiction in order to justify state violence.

On the Words to His Son

Chamberlain further claims Mr. Belt-Stubblefield told his son to “Get the shit,” implying this referred to retrieving a discarded gun. That is reckless speculation masquerading as fact. In the same press update, Chamberlain admitted he was “not in [Mr. Belt-Stubblefield’s] mind,” yet he presumed to speak with certainty about Mr. Belt-Stubblefield’s intentions. That is not transparency. That is fabrication. And it impeaches Chamberlain’s credibility as a leader.

On the Assault by Officer Neely

Officer Neely punched Mr. Belt-Stubblefield in the face. One man striking another is not a “fight.” It is an assault. To call this “de-escalation” is absurd, insulting, and dangerous. If officers are being trained that a closed fist to the face is de-escalation, then Aurora is not training peacekeepers; it is training aggressors.

On “De-escalation” Expectations

Chief Chamberlain framed Mr. Belt-Stubblefield’s lack of compliance as a failure to respond appropriately to Officer Neely’s so-called de-escalation. But how is the community expected to know what officers define as compliance? We are not trained in their ever-shifting expectations. To demand compliance with unwritten rules while wielding lethal force is unjust and indefensible.

On Lessons Ignored

When asked about lessons learned from the shooting of Rashaud Johnson, an eerily similar killing of another unarmed Black man, Chamberlain deflected, citing instead the number of killings this year. Three deaths in 2025. Is this what the Aurora Police considers a metric of progress? Deflection is dishonesty. What number of Black lives lost will finally be too many?

On Weaponizing Mr. Belt-Stubblefield’s Past

Chamberlain referenced Mr. Belt-Stubblefield’s prior police involvement, suggesting that his history should have made him “understand” police engagement. This is not only irrelevant but a deliberate attempt to smear a victim. Yet when speaking of Officer Neely’s past, Chamberlain softened his language, offering pacification. The double standard could not be clearer.

On “Abnormal” Behavior and Selective Restraint

Chamberlain described Mr. Belt-Stubblefield’s behavior as “abnormal,” insinuating it justified deadly force. But when a non-Black individual recently stole an APD squad car—undeniably abnormal behavior—restraint was exercised, and that individual lived. Once again, restraint is not applied equally in Aurora. It is selectively reserved for those who are not Black.

On Community Trust

Chief Chamberlain called community trust “fragile.” The truth is, there is no trust. Aurora Police have squandered it through repeated acts of violence, dishonesty, and disrespect. What remains is not fragility, it is a void.

Our Call

We call on the Aurora City Council—whose majority, including Mayor Mike Coffman, through their silence and inaction have aligned themselves with this pattern of abuse—to step into true leadership. The death of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield demands accountability, systemic reform, and the courage to confront racism within the Aurora Police Department.

Aurora is not broken because its people have failed. Aurora is broken because its leaders have refused to act.

We also recognize the unique weight of our position. Our CEO was present as a direct witness to this tragedy, involved in the accident that unfolded just before Mr. Belt-Stubblefield’s death. We are intentional in naming this—not to conflate roles, but to clarify them. Her experience grounds our work in lived truth, while our organizational response remains focused, strategic, and committed to the larger fight for justice. It is likely because of our unique position and defined purpose that Chief Todd Chamberlain chose not to include comments from MiDian Shofner, even as he cited alleged commentary from other witnesses on scene. It is not lost on us that he reserved affirming statements only for the narratives that served his agenda. That separation strengthens our voice. We speak not only with grief and proximity, but with clarity, purpose, and the resolve to restore, elevate, acknowledge, and protect our community—even as the systems around us fail to do so.

We say, with expectancy, NO MORE! Our team stands with Mr. Belt-Stubblefield’s family, his son, who witnessed this unthinkable outcome, and every community member who knows that justice delayed is justice denied.

### END ###

For media inquiries, contact (email only at this time):
Info@BeTheEpitome.org

The post Response to Chief Chamberlain’s Remarks on the Killing of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

According to video captured by bystanders and statements from the Aurora Police Department, an officer fatally shot Rajon Belt-Stubblefield at approximately 7:30 p.m. near the intersection of 6th Avenue and Billings Street in Aurora. The APD officer shot Rajon Belt-Stubblefield following a traffic stop.

Content warning graphic violence

Video captured by bystanders shows Belt-Stubblefield exiting his vehicle and approaching the officer. Witnesses state that Belt-Stubblefield was directed to exit his vehicle by the APD officer. As he turned his head, appearing to point toward the accident, the officer punched him in the back of the head. Belt-Stubblefield moved toward the officer and raised his fists. The officer then fired multiple rounds, dropping Belt-Stubblefield to the ground. Witnesses say no medical aid was given for an extended period, while the officer was quickly driven away from the scene.

MiDian Shofner, CEO of The Epitome of Black Excellence, and founder of 8PM Consulting for Humanity, was rear-ended in the police chase leading up to the shooting. Shofner immediately started livestreaming the situation. 

“[The Officer] shot this man unarmed,” Shofner said on Facebook Live. “ A less lethal option was an option. This is not ok. And where did they take the officer? They just literally put him in a car and sped off.” 

Shofner also noted that Belt-Stubblefield’s young son was in the car during the shooting.

Many commenters on the livestream tried to piece together what they had seen.

“APD was pursuing a car and APD rear-ended MiDian and other drivers,” commented viewer Kenbe Fo. “I am worried about MiDian and if she is okay after this incident, and of course the man who was shot—no word on if he survived. No aid was immediately rendered to him, as MiDian has said. Belt-Stubblefield was later pronounced dead following the APD shooting.

Members of the community argue that this comes at a time where APD have established a substantial reputation for violence against people of color, such as Elijah McClain and Kilyn Lewis to name a few. 

Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain told reporters that the officer believed there was a gun on the ground, and that Belt-Stubblefield approached the weapon. Multiple witnesses and those who reviewed the videos dispute that claim, saying Belt-Stubblefield was unarmed.

The Aurora Police Department later posted that “additional officers responded to assist and [provide] first aid until medical personnel arrived. The involved officer has been placed on paid administrative leave in accordance with department policy.”

Candlelight Vigil for Rajon Belt-Stubblefield courtesy of Jeff Fard

Last night, many residents, community members, and activists attended a candlelight vigil in honor of Belt-Stubblefield’s memory. Grief hung heavy as speakers shared memories and voiced anger toward Aurora police and city leaders.

Yellow Scene Magazine has submitted two requests to the Aurora Police Department for the official police report, and the body-cam footage. 

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The post Aurora Officer’s Shooting of Rajon Belt-Stubblefield Sparks Community Outcry appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Earlier this year, the Boulder Police Department released data on its stops and use of force practices by race, but the picture it paints is incomplete. 

The dashboard released by the Boulder PD includes reports on use-of-force-by-race and stops-by-race starting in 2024, with annual overviews shown for the years 2021 to 2023. This limited data does not compare to the in-depth information dashboards released by other Colorado police departments, and it does not reflect the thorough data sets that advocacy groups have been asking the city to share.  

“We are committed to being more transparent, and as part of that transparency, we are working diligently to find additional ways to share data with our community,” Boulder PD Chief Stephen Redfearn and Chief Data Analyst Dr. Daniel Reinhard said in an email to Yellow Scene Magazine. “Due to requests from the community, we now have 13 dashboards, including the new use of force and contacts dashboards.”

The dashboard shows that use-of-force was used 266 times in 2024, which was down from 320 instances in 2023. In 2021, use-of-force was used in 239 cases. In 2024, 84% of subjects in use-of-force instances were white, compared to 11% who were Black. 

Redfearn and Reinhard say earlier data isn’t available because of changes in the police department’s technology systems.

“Police department technology is constantly evolving. 2024 is the first complete year of our adoption of an improved records management system that we are using to update this dashboard,” they said.

According to Dan Williams of Boulder Progressives, the lack of complete and consistent data from prior years prevents meaningful analysis of use-of-force trends.

“Boulder did a pretty comprehensive study in 2018 of police stops by race, and then committed to doing a better job, and didn’t publish any data,” he said. 

When the city was asked to release data again in 2021, the information didn’t align with the 2018 study, making it impossible to compare the two years.

“What they said at that time was that the city had just implemented new training on de-escalation techniques, and even though it looked like the city police were using force quite a bit against people, the number should get better over time,” Williams said. “They never updated the data, until this most recent data release earlier this year. There was no way to tell if what the police department was saying was accurate or inaccurate, whether this training was effective or ineffective.”

Still, Williams noted that some patterns are clear despite the gaps.

“Use of force, in general, has increased in Boulder since this training was implemented,” Williams said. “It would be helpful to have the police department explain why that is. Was the training that they chose ineffective, or were officers not following it? What happened?”

The dashboard left the Boulder Progressives with more questions than answers.

“Why are ten percent of the use-of-force incidents in Boulder against Black people, when Black people make up one percent of the city’s population?” Williams shared. “Those are questions that the police department should explain. By producing this data in ways that don’t match their prior data releases, they make it hard to hold them to account. There’s no real way to say definitively what the trends are here.”

Redfearn and Reinhard shared that many factors contribute to the use-of-force data, but denied that police training played a role.

“Over the past five years, there have been increases in suspects resisting arrest and obstructing police operations, assaults against first responders, and calls for police service to address criminal circumstances,” they told Yellow Scene.

Many argue that compared to departments in nearby cities, Boulder’s data offerings fall short.

The Denver Police Department, for example, released a report detailing use-of-force incidents from 2019 to 2022. The report includes variables like the subject’s race, the officer’s race, and the level of force used. Aurora Police Department also maintains an interactive dashboard covering incidents from 2020 through 2024, with updates already available for 2025. Their data includes the race of both officer and subject, as well as the type of call involved. This kind of accessible, comprehensive dataset is what Boulder Progressives say they’d like to see from Boulder PD.

The Boulder Police Department says it’s hearing the criticism loud and clear and responding accordingly.

“We have had great feedback from the community and have made changes to the dashboards based upon community feedback,” Redfearn and Reinhard said. “We appreciate the input of our police oversight panel and other groups that have helped us improve the dashboards.”

The department has another kind of dashboard in the works that will display the feedback the police department receives, though no exact timeline for release has been confirmed.

Advocates say meaningful reform starts with meaningful data. Without consistent, detailed reporting on use-of-force incidents, it’s difficult for the public to hold police accountable or to measure whether changes are working. Updating the dashboard to include comprehensive demographic information would be a step toward the transparency Boulder officials have promised.

The post The Missing Pieces in Boulder’s Police Force Data appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky and Brother Jeff Fard recently met on the ‘Free Think Zone’ on May 6. The conversation was intended to encourage dialogue about differing political ideologies and personal views.

Fard, a longtime Denver activist, advocates for respectful dialogue between people with opposing views. Jurinsky, likewise, presents herself as a champion for ‘ALL of Aurora,’ according to her website and social media profiles. She highlights jobs and the economy, public safety, taxes and fees, and neighborhood revitalization as her key priorities and serves on several committees focused on these issues.

The conversation spanned more than two hours and covered everything from crime to city services. We at Yellow Scene Magazine took the opportunity to put Jurinsky’s most striking and disputed claims under the microscope. 

Here’s what we found

Del Mar Park/Circle

About a week prior to the interview, Jurinsky criticized Fard on social media for reposting a video from an incident at Del Mar Park in April. The footage showed a large crowd in the street, with people driving in donuts, riding ATVs, and standing on parked cars. It also depicted a long line of vehicles backed up at an intersection and police cars driving through the area.

Jurinsky accused Fard of promoting the behavior captured in the video, citing concerns about public safety and strain on police resources. In response to her statement about police resources, Fard argued that police are typically present at Del Mar Park regardless of whether an event is happening.

Claim 1: 

Jurinsky stated that all police resources were sent to Del Mar Park to respond to the gathering shown in the video. 

 “All of our police resources were taken to go respond to Del Mar Park.”

— Time Stamp: 09:05 / 09:58

Assessment: Unfounded

There are no available records or official statements from the Aurora Police Department that confirm the exhaust of police resources on April 27 or April 28, when the video was uploaded. 

Claim 2: 

Jurinsky stated some of the vehicles being used were illegal.

 “Those ATVs are not street legal. It’s not legal to have them out.”

— Time Stamp: 11:01

Assessment: True

It is not legal to ride ATV or other off-road vehicles on public streets or highways in Colorado.

Claim 3: 

Jurinsky claims hundreds of people were present at the event.

 “I was told that it was upwards of 1000 people that were there.”

— Time Stamp: 11:01

Assessment: Unfounded

There are no available records or official statements from the Aurora Police Department that confirm the number of people at Del Mar Park on this day. Jurinsky’s statement is based on hearsay.

Claim 4:

Jurinsky stated that the organizers needed and lacked a permit to host the event.

 “You’re supposed to pull a permit. The person who held the event did not hold that permit. And for any event, and for any large gathering, that permit is pulled and it is known about ahead of time that part of the permitting process is what public safety needs to look like for that event.”

— Time Stamp: 17:18-17:45

Assessment:  Likely True

As of now, there are no records or indications that the organizer obtained a permit. A permit is required for gatherings using public roads.

Claim 5:

Jurinsky claimed that people involved were running from the police.

 “It was very clear in some of the video footage that they’re going through that some of these folks ran from the police.”

— Time Stamp: 18:35

Assessment: Unclear

Police vehicles are visible in the video, and there is a car driving in the opposite direction of the police. However, there are no official records or statements from the Aurora Police Department indicating that anyone fled from law enforcement. Additionally, the video itself doesn’t show anyone clearly running from police, in fact, at one point, individuals are seen approaching the police cars and even dancing near them, not fleeing. That said, given the chaotic nature of the event, it’s not out of the question that some individuals may have dispersed or avoided contact with officers off-camera.

Claim 6:

Jurinsky claimed that the incident in the video resulted in one arrest.

 “There was one arrest made. Everybody is saying that there were no arrests made, okay, there was one arrest made, confirmed.”

— Time Stamp: 19:30

Assessment: Unfounded

As previously noted, the Aurora Police Department has released few public records or statements about the event, and no news outlets appear to have reported any arrests. One likely unrelated suspect was arrested in connection with a fatal shooting early on April 27. However, that incident occurred about four miles from Del Mar Park and has not been linked to the gathering.

Youth/Rebuilding Trust

Claim 1: 

Jurinsky claims she has worked closely with a non-profit organization called The Road Called STRATE.

“I have prided myself to work so closely with organizations in Aurora that are really trying to rebuild that trust and work with the youth and bring police into these spaces, with the Black and Brown minority youth in Aurora. And one of those specifically is “The Road Called STRATE.”

— Time Stamp: 25:09

Assessment: True

Jurinsky has endorsed The Road Called STRATE on social media and participated in fundraisers for the non-profit. 

Claim 2: 

Jurinsky claims she pushed for support and funding for violence prevention programs.

“I have advocated for funding for them, the funding for these violence prevention programs in Aurora.”

— Time Stamp: 26:36

Assessment: Misleading

Jurinsky voted against increased funding for Aurora’s Youth Violence Prevention Program in 2022, which aimed to address root causes of violence through providing resources and community-based strategies. Instead, she has advocated and organized fundraising events for violence prevention programs that work closely with law enforcement and use deterrence strategies.

Claim 3: 

Jurinsky claims she fought to get a federal grant for the SAVE program.

“I helped advocate a federal grant for the SAVE program, the Aurora SAVE program.” 

— Time Stamp: 27:13

Assessment: True

The Aurora SAVE (Standing Against Violence Every Day) program is a community-based initiative focused on reducing youth violence through non-police strategies. The Aurora City Council formally partnered with the SAVE program as part of the unanimously approved Youth Violence Prevention Strategic Plan in May 2022. Because the plan included SAVE as a partner and was backed by the full council, it is accurate to say the program received city support and funding, though individual levels of involvement may vary.

Claim 4: 

Jurinsky consistently claims that she has financially supported and advocated for increased funding for particular organizations.

“I’m a very vocal advocate for both of these organizations, and I’m extremely involved, both financially and personally.” 

— Time Stamp: 29:35

Assessment: Unclear

Jurinsky’s campaign finance records and public disclosures do not show financial support for any of the organizations in question, aside from The Road Called STRATE. However, campaign filings do not include donations made in a private capacity. Furthermore, any behind-the-scenes advocacy would not necessarily be documented, so it’s difficult to confirm or disprove with certainty.

Claim 5: 

Homeless people are a major cause of fires in Aurora.

“Because when it’s not activated, the homeless are taking up much of the area and causing problems. There’s a fire station nearby. They’ve started fires,” 

— Time Stamp: 30:46

Assessment: Misleading

There was one documented case in 2023 where a homeless encampment accidentally started a fire. While this shows such incidents aren’t impossible, there are no public records indicating a broader pattern of fires caused by unhoused individuals in Aurora. Jurinsky frames it as a frequent issue, but the data doesn’t support that. Given the lack of evidence and political incentive to justify homeless sweeps, the claim is misleading due to exaggeration and misrepresentation.

Police Brutality

When the two began speaking about Kilyn Lewis’ death – which Jurinsky recently referred to as “justified murder” – a broader conversation about police brutality in Aurora and due process opened up. The Councilwoman went on to connect his death and the judicial process of his case to Uber driver Michael Hancock, Elijah McClain, and Jor’Dell Richardson.

Elijah McClain

23-year-old Elijah McClain was forcibly restrained by the Aurora police and nonconsensually injected with Ketamine by paramedics in August 2019. Three days after the encounter, McClain passed away in the hospital. 

Claim 1: 

The officers in Elijah McClain’s case were indicted after the case went to a grand jury as an example of how the court will follow due process if necessary. 

“The officers that were indicted in Elijah McClain went to a grand jury, and that’s how those officers were indicted.”

— Time Stamp: 51:43

Assessment: True

Officer Randy Roedema and paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec were convicted by a Colorado grand jury. However, the District Attorney’s original investigation concluded that the evidence did not warrant criminal charges. It was not until Governor Polis called for another investigation in June 2020 that the perpetrators were indicted.

Fard pointed out that some are able to go through the legal system, but Elijah McClain, Kilyn Lewis, and Jor’Dell Richardson were never given the opportunity to do so.

Kylin Lewis

Kilyn Lewis was shot and killed by Aurora Officer Michael Dieck on May 23, 2024. The department claims that Lewis did not appropriately respond to verbal instruction and moved in a way that indicated he was reaching for an unseen weapon that later turned out to be a cellphone. Lewis was fatally wounded and Dieck was not charged. 

Claim 1: 

Kilyn Lewis had a warrant out for first-degree murder charges. 

“He stopped going to court on a first-degree attempted murder charge, so they put a warrant out for his arrest. That’s why they were looking for him.”

— Time Stamp: 48:41

Assessment: True

Lewis was wanted on an active warrant for a fatal shooting that he was allegedly involved in at the beginning of May 2024. 

Claim 2: 

Kilyn Lewis’ family did not file a lawsuit against the Aurora Police Department.

“But they [Lewis’ family] filed no lawsuit.”

— Time Stamp: 56:51

Assessment: True at Time

Lewis’ family filed a lawsuit against the City of Aurora and Officer Michael Dieck on May 21st, almost two weeks after the interview.

Claim 3: 

Local residents are not able to speak at City Council meetings due to activists.  

“So people who truly live in Aurora, who want to come to talk to us about whatever they don’t they either don’t get to speak, or if there’s enough time for them to speak, they get heckled and they get people are screaming at them…The people of Aurora don’t even get to speak, and it’s mostly people coming from Denver to make these comments.”

— Time Stamp: 57:56

Assessment: Misleading

Public demonstrations surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement and unjust police activity have occurred at Aurora City Council meetings. Jurinsky does not provide evidence that most of the demonstrators are from Denver; regardless, the meetings are open to the public, and rules have been implemented to streamline the process and avoid disruptions. 

Policing

Fard and Jurinsky discussed the Aurora Police Department’s new police chief and if that change is contributing to a new way of policing. Jurinsky said that Aurora City Council members have supported victims, and claimed that they will condemn police officers found guilty of violating ethical standards and general policies. 

Claim 1: 

Jurinsky has criticized Nate Meier, an officer who admitted to driving under the influence while on duty. 

  “…the drunk officer Nate Meier, who I have publicly admonished and said he should not be a police officer…” 

— Time Stamp: 01:04:40

Assessment: True

Nate Meier was found intoxicated behind the wheel of a police car in 2019. Meier was promoted to detective three years later, which Jurinsky publicly condemned. 

Claim 2: 

Nate Meier kept his job and Vanessa Wilson was promoted to Police Chief under former Chief Nick Metz, a black man.

  “…and the grooming of Vanessa Wilson to be the next police chief, all three of these things happened under a black police chief. Nick Metz, a black police chief.”

— Time Stamp: 01:04:50

Assessment: Misleading

Jurinsky’s emphasis on Nick Metz’s race is used to suggest that the actions and decisions made during his leadership, including Meier’s continued employment and Wilson’s advancement, somehow disprove the existence of systemic racism within the Aurora Police Department. This rhetorical move misrepresents how systemic racism operates, implying that because a Black individual held a position of authority, racial bias could not have influenced outcomes. 

Venezuelan Community, TdA, and the Gardens at Havana

Attention has recently been brought to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) and its effect on the Aurora community. Jurinsky has been outspoken about the presence of the gang. Fard touched on some of the claims made by Jurinsky in regards to TdA. 

A large gathering formed at the Gardens on Havana shopping center on July 28, 2024, seemingly in connection with the Venezuelan presidential nelection.

Claim 1: 

Jurinsky did not say that the Venezuelan gangs have taken over the Aurora Police Department.

  “They didn’t overtake the Aurora Police Department. I never said that.”

— Time Stamp: 01:08:50

Assessment: Misleading

Jurinsky did not claim that the gang took over the Aurora Police Department, but did say there is, “…a complete gang takeover in parts of our city,” in an interview with Fox News. She and Mayor Mike Coffman went on to release a joint statement saying, “TdA has not “taken over” the city.”

Claim 2: 

A police car was shot at during the gathering at the Gardens on Havana.

  “They made a public statement. A police officer was shot at. He called out shots fired, that he was taking shots. He called it out over the radio. Nobody came.”

— Time Stamp: 01:10:21

Assessment: Misleading

The Aurora Police Department issued a statement saying that an officer, “believed his vehicle had been struck by a bullet,” in a separate shooting on the same day. There has been no connection between the event and this particular shooting, or that the officer did not receive back-up.

Claim 3: 

There were only two police officers on scene at the Gardens on Havana, where 5,000 Venezuelans were engaging in violent behavior, including looting businesses and shooting off guns. 

 “Two sergeants were out there in control of the arrest patrol officers for 5,000 Venezuelans who gathered in almost under an hour, who looted the Target. A Target employee ended up in the hospital. The McDonald’s workers just fled the building. Guns are being fired off. People are trapped in their cars. And again, this is a Sunday afternoon, so you’ve got people walking out of the Kohl’s. You’ve got people walking out of the Target with their kids or grandkids, and they’re walking into a situation where people are shooting guns off in the air.”

— Time Stamp: 01:10:57

Assessment: Misleading

Police reports estimated that the attendance in the shopping center was between 3,000 and 4,000 people and began around 5 pm. Venezuelans had gathered in the area to await the results of the Venezuelan presidential election, and there is no evidence that it was a gang-related event. 

While there were reports of gunfire during the event, no arrests were made in immediate connection. The department shared a statement on X, writing, “While there are claims that some attendees at the gathering rioted, causing damage to businesses, passing vehicles, and causing harm to passersby in the area, APD has received no such reports to date.”

Claim 4: 

The city had to bring in hazmat teams to clean up the parking lot at the Gardens on Havana following the large gathering. 

  “The next morning, they had to bring in hazmat teams because there was so much human feces, so much urine, and so much vomit all over the parking lot. They had to bring in actual hazmat teams to clean this parking lot up. There were many bullet casings found…”

— Time Stamp: 01:11:41

Assessment: Unfounded

Official reports do not indicate that the gathering’s aftermath required hazmat teams.

Claim 5: 

Heather Morris threatened the officer whose car was shot, leading to his departure from the department. 

  “The police officer who was shot at, he was called the next morning, and he was threatened. His job was threatened. He’s no longer with the department. He left…[he was threatened by] interim police chief Heather Morris.”

— Time Stamp: 01:12:02

Assessment: Unfounded

There is no credibility in the claim that the officer whose car was shot at was threatened by, or lost their job, because of Heather Morris. The perpetrators involved in the shooting were arrested, indicating that the officer was supported by authorities. It is unlikely that his job was put at risk as a direct result of this incident. 

Claim 6: 

Apartment complexes in Aurora were shut down due to Venezuelan gang activity. 

  “Well, two of the buildings are completely shut down. One of the buildings is under court receivership and is in the process of getting fixed up, remodeled.”

— Time Stamp: 01:24:59

Assessment: Misleading

The Edge at Lowry and Aspen Grove Apartments were closed. City officials have not credited the closure to gang activity. Instead, they claim that the complexes were closed due to a variety of code violations, structural issues, and more that had been cited as far back as 2020.

Claim 7: 

ICE has arrested and removed TdA members from Aurora. 

  “ICE has made several arrests of TdA gang members and is getting them off the streets and getting them out of Aurora.” 

— Time Stamp: 01:25:25

Assessment: True

ICE has worked with federal agencies to conduct targeted raids to arrest suspected members of Venezuelan gangs, however, there has been no evidence that the individuals arrested were deported or taken out of Aurora. The number of people arrested in connection to TdA has been inflated, as ICE was targeting over 100 suspects and did not arrest over 100 people.

Jeanette Vizguerra 

Jeanette vizguerra is an immigrant activist facing deportation. She was arrested without incident on March 17 and taken into custody under ICE. 

Claim 1: 

Jeanette Vizguerra has been undocumented since immigrating to the U.S. and has not complied with immigration court dates to obtain residency. 

  “Okay, so my understanding of the situation with her is that she came to the country originally undocumented, and she had several encounters with ICE. She was given different court dates to show up. I don’t know if she came here for asylum, if she had an asylum claim. I’m not exactly sure, but she never showed up. She didn’t do what she was supposed to do. She’s been here a long time. The fact that she didn’t have any kind of residency, that alone blows my mind.”

— Time Stamp: 01:41:50

Assessment: Mostly False

In 2012, Vizguerra was permitted to remain in the United States with the condition that she would comply with ICE check-ins. She applied for a U-Visa in 2016, which was denied in 2019. She has continued the legal processes to appeal the denial. 

Pride + Reservoir

Jurinsky also brought up Aurora Pride and the alleged impact that it has on access to Aurora Reservoir. The area is open year-round to annual pass holders. 

Claim 1: 

The city shuts down the Aurora reservoir for a for profit company to host a pride event that is not during pride month.

 “We’re shutting down the reservoir for free for them to have this event. They’re not even a nonprofit. This is a for-profit organization holding this pride event, not in Pride Month, and shutting it down to all of the people of Aurora.”

— Time Stamp: 01:46:32

Assessment: Mostly False

Aurora Pride is put on in collaboration with the Out Front Foundation, which is a registered nonprofit. Aurora Reservoir was shut down to the general public for the event last August but entry to Pride is generally free. Furthermore, Aurora Pride has been held in August instead of June since 2019. 

Claim 2: 

 “[Pride is] blocking the access from South Shore, from Beacon Point, from people who bought homes in those neighborhoods, who have access to walking trails into the reservoir and bike trails into the reservoir. Those were sealed off.” 

— Time Stamp: 01:47:34

Assessment: Misleading

Pride was open to the public, and there have been no reports of the trails at Aurora Reservoir being completely blocked, sealed off, or not allowing entry. Community members reported that some trails were closed temporarily for the event. 

The post Jurinsky vs. Fard: Fact-Checking Their Fiery Debate on Crime, Youth, and Policing appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Boulder NAACP, which announced its dissolution earlier this month, has been at odds with the City of Boulder and its new Chief of Police, Stephen Redfearn. In a recently filed civil lawsuit, former Boulder NAACP member Darren O’Connor alleges that Redfearn, the City of Boulder, and City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde violated his rights to free speech through retaliatory actions.

For a more comprehensive look into the dissolution of the Boulder NAACP and its members’ battle with the city thus far, see our previous coverage. The abbreviated version goes like this: due to Redfearn’s less-than-favorable history as a captain of the Aurora Police Department, specifically his post-mordum involvement with the wrongful death of Elijah McClain, members of the community spoke out against him taking the role of the Boulder Chief of Police.

Many formal complaints were made to the city of Boulder, specifically the city manager, Rivera-Vandermyde, urging them to reconsider his appointment in light of already deep-seated mistrust of the police. After much back and forth, which is covered in detail in our previous article, a mediated meeting was held between the Boulder NAACP and Redfearn in July 2024.

While the city of Boulder and Redfearn attempted to make members sign a confidentiality clause, they refused. Though the meeting did little to ease the minds of either party, things really began to escalate when Redfearn and Rivera-Vandermyde became aware that a member of the NAACP had recorded the meeting.

From there, according to O’Connor, Redfearn, and Rivera-Vandermyde began a smear campaign against him, leading to the Boulder NAACP’s falling out with the national organization, and other personal harm. Which brings us to the most recent lawsuit, filed April 29, 2025.

The suit alleges that Darren O’Connor faced retaliation after publicly opposing the appointment of Defendant Redfearn as Chief of Police for the Boulder Police Department. The complaint outlines seven claims of relief, asserting violations of both the Colorado and U.S. Constitutions.

The seven key allegations are as follows:

1. Retaliation for Freedom of Speech: Plaintiff contends that after voicing concerns about Redfearn’s appointment, Redfearn retaliated by disseminating false information about O’Connor, targeting his NAACP membership, filing complaints with the Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel (OARC), and seeking criminal charges against him.
2. Retaliation for the Right to Association: The lawsuit claims that Redfearn’s actions led to the revocation of O’Connor’s NAACP membership, which infringes upon his constitutional right to free association.
3. Civil Conspiracy: It also alleges that Redfearn and Boulder City Manager Rivera-Vandermyde collaborated to discredit him through media misinformation, complaints to the NAACP, and attempts to initiate criminal proceedings, all in response to his protected speech and association.
4. First Amendment Retaliation (42 U.S.C. § 1983): The complaint asserts that Rivera-Vandermyde, acting under color of law, retaliated against Plaintiff’s free speech by spreading misinformation, targeting his NAACP membership, and seeking criminal charges.
5. Retaliation for Right to Association (42 U.S.C. § 1983): It is alleged that Rivera-Vandermyde’s actions, including filing complaints with the NAACP, led to the revocation of O’Connor’s membership, violating his right to free association.
6. Civil Conspiracy (42 U.S.C. § 1983): O’Connor claims that both Redfearn and Rivera-Vandermyde conspired to retaliate against him for exercising his First Amendment rights, resulting in harm to his reputation and associations.
7. Failure to Train: The lawsuit alleges that the City of Boulder failed to adequately train its officials, particularly Redfearn, on constitutional rights, leading to the violations experienced by O’Connor.

O’Connor seeks compensatory damages for physical, emotional, and mental injuries, as well as other relief deemed appropriate by the court.

Yellow Scene Magazine is no stranger to litigious battles with the city of Boulder, having won a civil suit concerning the timely and unedited release of body camera footage after an officer-involved shooting that left 51-year-old Jeannette Alartorre dead. These types of legal battles, though not as electrifying as the marches in the streets, are equally crucial in holding those who are charged to “protect and serve” accountable.

The post City of Boulder Faces Yet Another Lawsuit appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

photo by Janine Robinson

Erie Elections 2024

As the Unofficial Election results for Erie trickle in, the town’s ballot measures have shown candidates who appear to be leading and winning the election. 

However, per the Erie government website, Andrew Moore is set to win against Justin Brooks with 10,384 votes, while Justin Brooks has received 9,807 votes. This has placed Moore in the lead with 577 more votes. Council Members for District 1 have shown John Mortellaro leading with 2,652 votes, followed by Andrew Sawusch with 2,633 votes. 

One of the candidates running for District 2 has been met with heightened controversy. Dan Maloit, who the ballot measures have shown is placing third with 2,078 votes, has been served with a lawsuit for allegedly doxxing and posting nude photographs of an ex-partner online. 

The victim, who chose to stay unidentified, claims she had found out about the nude photos being posted online 2 years ago, back in 2022. Once she started doing a deeper search on the web, she realized that photos had actually been posted of her online dating back to 2016. 

Since these allegations have arisen, Maloit filed a countersuit in September and has denied any of them, claiming they are intended to sabotage his political career. In a Facebook post on November 4, 2024, Maloit states, “I believe the allegations are false and are made in addition to other private matters that exist between the plaintiff and myself.”

District 3 has shown Brian O’Connor leading with 2,626 votes, Travis Pinz with 1,612, and Emily Baer with 2,885. 

The city of Erie, with 11,566 votes, has voted yes for a 5% excise tax on the sale of Marijuana. This means that starting January 2025, a tax will be imposed on the sale of Marijuana both medicinally and recreationally. The big change is that Marijuana will be able to be sold and purchased in the city of Erie, something that hasn’t happened in the city since the legalization of Marijuana in Colorado back in 2012. 

962 yes votes have gone toward question 7B regarding RTD annexation. Over 90% of the city of Erie is already annexed into the RTD district. The RTD annexation vote would result in providing more unannexed areas in the city of Erie for public transportation systems such as the RTD. This voter approval will bring about multiple benefits for the people of Erie, including transportation services, access to rides, parking benefits, and free fares that would be eligible for residents and youth during the summers. 

What’s next? Election results for the city of Erie will be finalized on November 26, 2024. 

Stephen Redfearn

The City of Boulder responds to the NAACP

The NAACP has issued a press release expressing its concern about the recent hiring of Stephen Redfearn, a police officer with a dark reputation by the City of Boulder. 

Stephen Redfearn was recently hired last year into a permanent position as head police chief in the City of Boulder. On October 14 of this year, the NAACP released a press release condemning the hiring of Stephen Redfearn due to his history of covering up the murder of Elijah McClain.  

In the press release submitted to YS, the NAACP claims that Redfearn is not only “anti-black” but also lacks “cultural competence,” which should, by all rights, disqualify him for the position of head police chief of the City of Boulder. 

The press release also contained a transcript of a recorded confidential meeting that took place in July of this year between members of the City of Boulder and Stephen Redfearn.

According to the City of Boulder’s manager, Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, the meeting was secretly recorded without the members’ knowledge or consent, and members were asked to sign an agreement not to publish any details of the meeting anywhere online. According to Colorado law, Colorado is a one-party state, meaning that the NAACP did not need to inform the members of the City of Boulder that they were being recorded. 

The press release provided by the NAACP contains a transcript of the recording during the meeting. In this transcript, there were heated exchanges between Redfearn and Darren O’Connor, the chair of the NAACP Boulder County’s criminal justice committee. A “crude” comment was made toward Redfearn’s sexuality by O’Connor, which prompted Redfearn to express his being gay as a prominent reason why the NAACP condemned his hiring. Redfearn further claims that O’Connor smirked at him during the meeting anytime Redfearn spoke, resulting in questionable comments made by Redfearn that prompted O’Connor to state that such comments further prop up  “a system of racism.”

Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde recently came forward, issuing a statement accusing three members of the NAACP of blackmailing her with the recording. According to Rivera-Vandermyde, the members used the recording to pressure the City into not going through with the hiring of Redfearn. Rivera-Vandermyde claims that the NAACP’s actions have been “unethical and unacceptable.” Rivera-Vandermyde even goes as far as stating that Redfearn had nothing to do with Elijah’s murder, “Without repeating their misleading account of his involvement, I want to make clear again that there were no allegations against then-Aurora Police Captain Redfearn in connection with this case.”

What’s next? There have been no updates pertaining to the hiring of Stephen Redfearn. In an email sent to Boulder Weekly, Darren O’Connor said, “The lack of good faith begins and ends with her (Rivera-Vandermyde) and Redfearn,” he closes it by saying, “The truth is, she spent the City’s time and money creating a sham process in which Redfearn was always going to be chosen. An untold amount of money was spent hiring facilitators of the conversation, with the hope that the offering of a conversation would be sufficient to silence our critiques.”

graphic by Ray Manzari

2024 Elections and Blaming Minorities for Trump’s Victory 

As the old saying goes, if you scratch a liberal hard enough, a fascist bleeds.

As Donald Trump embraces his second Presidential election win, rather than focusing energy on the Democratic party and why Harris’ party did not succeed, strategists and even voters have succumbed to blaming minorities — many who make up only less than 1 percent of the American population — as being the main reason for Trump’s victory. 

Poll trackers show that 54% of the Latino population intended to vote for Harris and 33% for Trump. However, the final numbers came out as 55% of white and Hispanic males voted for Trump, while 53% of white women also did. Yet Muslims are often taking the blame for Harris’ loss. According to the Council of Islamic Relations, the Democrats had 22,000 fewer votes this year from Arab Americans and saw a 9,000 vote increase for Donald Trump. CAIR has listed that 53.2% of the Arab vote went to Jill Stein, while 21.4% of the Arab American vote went to Trump, and about 20.3% went to Harris. 

While many Democratic voters and strategists claim that a vote for the Green party is a vote for Trump, that isn’t entirely the case. Prior to the election, many Arab Americans, allies, and anti-genocide voters had expressed the importance of voting for the Green party as a message to the Biden and Harris administrations that genocide is a staunch red line for many American voters. Newsweek states, “Roughly 60 percent of us here in the United States now say the two-party system has failed.” 

Following the election, many Harris voters resorted to social media to express their outrage and fears with Trump’s newly announced presidency by scapegoating Arab Americans, Black men (who voted 78% for Harris, down 2% from 2020) as well as other minorities for the failure of Harris’ campaign. 

A series of tweets, TikTok, and social media posts by Democratic voters displaying racist and disturbing reactions toward Trump’s victory swarmed social media outlets. Many Democratic strategists blamed others, and even die-hard true-blue Democrats called for death and violence against Arabs and other minorities, as well as calling for the complete obliteration of Gaza, “When Gaza is Blown off the map, they’ll have Trump’s vote to thank.” one user tweets. “Good luck with new Trump settlements,” another user comments on Instagram. Another prominent Twitter user by the name of Derrick Daniello, whose account was recently suspended, tweets, “Don’t worry… they’re gonna die under Trump. I hope Netanyahu levels Gaza…America isn’t an Arab state. The craziness we see in Europe will never happen in America.”

Latino and Hispanic Americans have also been faced with the brunt of the Democratic reaction to Trump’s win, as many Democrats expressed their lack of care and support for the deportation of Latinos and Hispanics who voted for Trump. The American Journalist Ronald Martin told the Independent, ““If that dude’s [a Trump voter] mama gets deported, that’s on him, and I’m gonna play Scarface’s ‘No Tears,’” expressing no sympathy toward the deportation of Latinos and directing the blame on them for voting for a presidency that many claims is Anti-immigrant. 

While Arab Americans, specifically Palestinian and Lebanese Americans, have been witness to the relentless annihilation of their people and destruction of their homes, the Democratic party and its followers believe that Arab Americans should unequivocally stand by the party that is funding the murder of their families. 

According to the United Nations, the number of children killed by Israel in Gaza since October 7 is higher than four years of world conflict. Two days before the election, Al Jazeera stated that 70% of the Palestinians killed in Gaza have been women and children. 

What’s next? Are American voters seeking justice and reform today, or only when it pertains to them? While the next four years may seem rather bleak, one thing that we Americans can take the time to do is reflect and focus our energy inward toward the failure of the Democratic party that felt imperialism and genocide were more important than winning an election. 

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The post A Nation in Flux: Local Elections, National Debates, and a Polarized Future appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

In the wake of the senseless murder of Elijah McClain, who was murdered during an unhinged encounter by police officer Randy Roedema and reckless paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec, Colorado has found itself once again grappling with the ongoing issue of police immunity. The daunting presence of police brutality continues to shake the streets of Colorado as Americans have been witness to countless cases where police officers have taken advantage of their authority to practice violence.

2021 Denver Black Lives Matter Protest

We have witnessed innumerable instances in which police officers harm or even murder citizens across the state and country and are entirely acquitted or get off scot-free. This intimidation tactic has put a lot of American lives at risk who feel that fighting for justice against bad cops is almost impossible. 

Colorado is known as one of the top five states with the highest rate of police brutality, as the senseless murder of Elijah McClain still echoes the lingering status quo of law enforcement being protected by the state. 

Earlier this year, on April 28, in the city of Fredrick, a police officer named Trevor McCourt noticed a vehicle without a license plate refusing to come to a complete stop at an intersection. McCourt initiated a traffic stop, which the individual refused to abide by, resulting in a low-speed pursuit. Following the pursuit, the car eventually ran into a dead end, which resulted in the 35-year-old man running out of the vehicle.

Officers ended up finding the 35-year-old behind a trash can, and as they were trying to take him into custody, McCourt assaulted the man on the side of the head with the butt of his gun, resulting in a head injury. After the man was taken into custody, he was sent to the hospital to get treatment for his wound. Once his wound was treated, the individual was taken to Weld County jail. 

After this incident, officers reported McCourt’s actions, fearing he was using excessive force on the individual. The Fredrick police department placed McCourt on administrative leave and conducted an internal investigation. The Frederick Police Department announced that Trevor McCourt had been fired and that an internal investigation was initiated shortly after. 

Law enforcement has repeatedly shown the citizens they intend to protect that they are above the law and can commit whatever actions they can with impunity. This case proved otherwise. Officers like McCourt abuse their power. The charges against McCourt displayed by the Weld County Court are second-degree assault, first-degree misconduct, and reckless endangerment. 

The firing of Trevor McCourt may have given little hope to the state of Colorado, holding reckless law enforcement accountable. 

Mugshots of Trevor McCourt

However, a most recent gut-wrenching case, once again in the city of Aurora, has brought attention to the reality of child sex abuse by police officers. 

Michael Hawkins, an Aurora police chief, has been accused of sexually abusing his youngest biological daughter and his two adopted daughters. This case was brought to light back in June, which resulted in Hawkins running free with just an ankle monitor, even after confirmation from Child Protective Services that he had sexually abused his children. His wife, Colorado mother Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins, served seven weekends in jail back in June due to opposing court-ordered reunification therapy between her ex-husband and her two youngest sons, whom she has full custody over. Her reasoning was to protect her children from her husband.

Pickrel-Hawkins says the reunification therapy conducted by a licensed therapist, Christine Bassett, was extremely harmful and counterintuitive. Pickrel-Hawkins says Basset “has supported the efforts” for Michael Hawkins to gain sole custody of her two sons. This has put Pickrel-Hawkin’s sons, who are now young adults, in a state of imminent psychological torture.

She says, “The very last visit with her, I told her, ‘This man now has formal criminal charges for sex assault on children and child abuse, and you need to know this.'” 

Pickrel-Hawkins protests the reunification of her children and their abusive father.

It is important to understand that Hawkins kids are young adults who are recalling the abuse that they experienced as children. The Larimer County judge ruled that this abuse was most likely not taking place due to only hearing testimony from the children, despite the proof that CPS has provided. This can also be tied to the notion that the judge may believe that Pickrel-Hawkins is in her children’s ear, diverting them from wanting to live with their father, a classic tactic used in a lot of custody battles throughout the country. This has garnered controversy among Colorado lawmakers who believe that children’s testimonies should be prioritized during these custody cases. 

Although Child Protective Services have proven the child abuse, there have barely been any repercussions for Michael Hawkins. Pickrel-Hawkins was living in a domestic violence house at the time of the order, where the court also instructed her to pay $370 a week for her boys to attend these reunification therapy sessions with their father. These sessions intend to unite families together during a time of divorce, custody, and legal battles. 

The child abuse has been utterly proven and made very clear. Why is the state doing everything in its power to protect Michael Hawkins, another bad cop who has made harmful and unspeakable decisions, and punish the mother who is seeking justice for her children and doing everything she can to protect them? 

The DOJ recently created a database of law enforcement officers’ misconduct records. This database ensures that other police departments do not hire officers with a history of bad behavior. It is a step in the right direction to prevent bad cops from serving our communities, which can once again put Americans in harm’s way.

Cops like Hawkins and Roedema are just a few examples of law enforcement that should be held accountable just like any other citizen committing the same crimes. There seems to be a growing list of bad cops throughout Colorado who don’t face the necessary consequences. As these cases unfold, police brutality continues to rise; according to Statista, as of September, over 800 people have been shot by police, 181 of them being Black individuals. This further proves how essential it is to stay informed, vote for laws that push for police reform, know your rights as Americans, and continue fighting for justice wherever.

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The post Blue Immunity: Holding Law Enforcement Accountable appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

Today, the NAACP Boulder County shares the below press release, which includes a partial transcript provided to show that the City Manager was present to observe Then-Interim Chief of Police Redfearn’s cultural incompetence, but chose to hire him any way.

NAACP Boulder County is shocked and dismayed over Boulder City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde’s decision to promote Stephen Redfearn to Boulder Police Chief.  The Boulder County Branch of the NAACP, allied partner organizations and community members continue to strongly object to Redfearn.  He was the  Nightshift Duty Commander overseeing the officers responsible for Elijah McClain’s death as well as leader of a brutal assault with chemical weapons against violin vigil participants honoring Elijah McClain’s memory.  Redfearn has not expressed remorse, contrary to what the City Manager is quoted as saying, in fact, re the violin vigil.  Redfearn says, in a recorded Police Oversight Panel interview that he “would do it again”. Boulder’s City Manager has consistently misrepresented Redfearn to the public (as has city councilman Mark Wallach) and minimized Redfearn’s  ‘anything but reimagined’ policing methods. He was trained in, and built a career of 22 years with the Aurora Police Department (currently under a consent decree), a department well-known for consistent practices of discriminatory and brutal practices.

Redfearn is demonstrably anti-Black and exhibits an undeniable lack of cultural competency.  In fact, NAACP Boulder County members have experienced his extreme anti-Black sentiments directly.  Redfearn lauds the Boulder PD’s adding of three police ‘liaisons’ to the LGBTQ community, and one each to the Jewish and Islamic communities.  Notably absent are the groups statistically most negatively and disproportionately impacted by policing in our community—Blacks, Native Americans, LatinX and people of color.  Redfearn has misled the public about his work, as well as his responsibilities and his actions on and around Elijah McClain’s murder. His career was built in the Aurora Police Department, in which he was groomed and promoted–a department infamous for its brutality, racism, lack of accountability, and deaths.  Hiring Redfearn as Chief of Police of Boulder is a dishonor to Elijah’s family, all those who believe in fairness and ethics in policing and invites future incidents to occur right here in Boulder.  The Boulder community through the reimagining policing plan called for transparency and accountability.   Is a racist pattern and practice of policing from Aurora what Boulder really wants?

NAACP strenuously objects to the sham of a police chief search conducted at city tax payer expense.

The City Manager continues a string of hires and decisions that belie the community to which she should be serving.  Her farce of a police chief search, and promotion of a dangerously culturally incompetent police chief, reveal a lack of leadership and responsibility to the community.  It is obvious that Stephen Redfearn was placed in Boulder–the hire only makes sense as a behind the scenes deal made at the expense of Blacks, Native Americans and people of color in our community.  Was Redfearn given the position from higher ups in exchange for his lukewarm testimony in the Elijah McClain trial? Or is it that our city manager lacks discernment in hiring?   Those involved clearly expected the Boulder community to be unaware and uncurious of this placement, thinking Redfearn’s background, position, and actions surrounding Elijah McClain’s death would go unnoticed.  In fact, the City’s initial website bio on Redfearn notably failed to make mention of Redfearn’s twenty-two-year Aurora career.  One has to wonder how many more Aurora Police Officers has Boulder hired since Elijah McClain’s murder.

In a transcript from a meeting with NAACP Boulder County officers, City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, Stephen Redfearn, his department handler, and two mediator/facilitators, Redfearn continued to evade accountability for his actions on the night Elijah McClain was murdered.  It strains credulity for anyone (but Mark Wallach and Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde) to believe a 22-year veteran of Aurora PD would not know that changing a call log from “suspicious person” to “assault on an officer” after Elijah McClain’s lifeless body was taken away in an ambulance was anything but a cover-up.

In the attached transcript, Redfearn reveals extreme anti-Blackness when he whines and protests the facial expressions of the Black person sitting next to him, accusing them of ‘smirking’, as if this is an outrageous crime.  His belief in his right to police even the facial expressions of Black people is precisely what gets them killed by law enforcement.  It is extraordinary for any police officer in the year 2024 to be this incompetent, let alone promoted to a position where lives are at stake.  Stephen Redfearn does not remotely possess the qualifications stated on the city’s website for the position of police chief, proving the City Manager has wasted tax payers’ time and money in an expensive sham search for a visionary police chief.  It is a public disgrace to the city of Boulder.

Wake Up Boulder!  Do we really want to be emulating Aurora’s deadly policing tactics?

Boulder is better than this.

Police Chief Redfearn’s Cultural Incompetence On Full Display in Meeting Between NAACP  Members and Then-Interim Chief Redfearn, City Manager Rivera-Vandermyde, and Alastair  McNiven 

July 25, 2024 transcript excerpt:

Annett James: Let me get back to something Darren brought up when you were ending. You talked about a letter that went to our state conference. So you were not there. You were  not present, as I understand. You were not, what you were complaining about, you were  not actually there.

Stephen Readfearn: Correct. So I can expound if you like. That night at council, I was there. I  walked out. The cops were talking, and then the next day a few of them had brought this,  just said, hey, I’m not sure what to do about this, but this comment was said when the  group was walking by, your name came up. And again, not knowing any of you all within the  NAACP, I just said, man, that’s really problematic. That’s offensive.

And so the cops came to me and said, hey, what can we do about this? And I said, I’m happy  to write a letter if maybe that will get some traction. But yeah, I just wrote the letter on  their behalf, hopefully getting some sort of traction there.

Annett James: Yeah, so past performance is really indicative of how one leads.

You know, you don’t know me. You don’t know the NAACP here. You don’t bother to  contact us, but you do bother to send a letter complaining about a conversation that you  didn’t hear.

You don’t know the circumstances about it. I’m allowed, we’re allowed, to talk about the  police in private conversation. Someone overhears it, so then it’s your responsibility then,  without trying to get any clarity.

And how is that leadership?

Stephen Redfearn: For me, that was leadership because my staff, that I have the  responsibility of looking after, came to me and said, hey, we’re really upset. What can we do  about this?

Annett James: Clearly. Got it.

Stephen Redfearn: For me, that was the response because I didn’t have that relationship.

And to go back to the previous point [pause] this seems futile. You’re not listening to what  I’m saying.

Darren O’Connor: No, we’re not agreeing.

Stephen Redfearn: You’re smirking at me.

Annett James: I can smirk. So now you control my facial expressions? You control what I say  in private? What is this? I’m listening. I can smirk? Oh, my goodness.

So you tone police and you . . . give me a break? I can’t have a conversation, I can’t make a  facial expression? Really? That’s pathetic. I will smirk. I smirk all the time. That is the way I  process. If it offends you, too bad. This is ridiculous.

I guess I wanted to get back to the point. You said that you were showing leadership to your  staff. But leadership is, for your role, it’s for the community as well.

And so who you protect is very clear. It is very clear throughout. Everything that I’ve read  about you, it all aligns perfectly.

You are there to protect police. You are not there to protect community. And certainly not  Black community.

And you will take whatever word they tell you without doing the minute amount of  investigation. You have no curiosity about what the truth might be. Well, you haven’t  demonstrated it.

Stephen Redfearn: My last year in Aurora, I was division chief of operations. I fired 12  people that year. In Boulder, we have had multiple discipline cases since I’ve been here. Three of them have resulted in people leaving. I have no problem holding people  accountable. That night, my role, I was the deputy police chief. And as I explained, my  direction from my boss was to be very internally focused. Since January, I’ve been more  externally focused. Alastair can attest we’ve been going all over the community and meeting  with a multitude of entities.

And I have staff now being more internally focused where I’m trying to transition to be more  externally focused. And I’m learning. I’m meeting people that I didn’t have the opportunity  to meet with before because we all have bosses—mine, at the time, didn’t want me to be  externally focused.

Annett James: Yeah, I want to go back to, maybe because I’m highly insulted by Steve’s  reference to me smirking. This is the kind of thing that white police do when they shoot  Black people, right? You smirked, you didn’t show the proper deference. And these are the  things that are born out of a system of racism where you get to decide what’s the  appropriate way to even make eye contact.

I mean, just the fact that you would say that is so telling to who you are as a person.  Because I would never have said that you have right now, you know, you’re furrowing, you  have those right there. I would never have noticed that—I would have taken that as thought  or contemplation. But somehow, just the fact that I frowned was insulting enough to you

that it bothered you. I would think that if I did that and I was pulled over by you as a cop,  you’d shoot me.

Yeah, because you were so insulted by it. I mean, it’s so weird to me that that would be  something that you could point out and to verbalize it. As a Black person interacting with a  cop, not only do we have to show our hands, we’ve got to make sure we smile . . . we’re not  that person anymore that the history has not caught up with.

And this is the thing that causes harm and one to lose their life. Just that you could point  that out is so poignant that you have no understanding about Black people and how to  interact with them.

Stephen Redfearn: I respectfully disagree.

Annett James You don’t have to disagree with respect.

Darren O’Connor: When we hear that you guys want to learn, and I don’t mean to put you  in the same pot, but, want to learn from those communities because they’ll never know, you  just heard it. And you’re basically, I disagree, I think your opinion’s wrong.

Where’s the meeting of the mind? And that’s fine, you disagree. But I’ll leave here thinking  there’s no meeting of the minds and there’s no curiosity. And I have to say, when she was  saying that, you did a head shake and were like, that’s just not right—and that’s fine. But  when she did it, it wasn’t fine. And so you’re disagreeing about your own reaction right now  because you did a similar, different but very similar response.

Facilitator: And I think the context is very real and it goes back to that systemic bias piece  where there’s different standards of behavior based on who people are and that it’s very  subjective. And within a Black community, for somebody to have a behavior that a white

person doesn’t understand could lead to something even more tragic, especially in policing.  And I think what Darren is saying is rather than respectfully disagree, is there a question you  could ask or is there a wondering about, you know, tell me more about that.

Because it is true that based on people’s behaviors, it’s like, they could lose their life. And so  I think that curiosity is a really important part of a leader, is to not disagree but to say, so tell  me more or how did you experience, I mean, I think she’s sharing how she experienced you, and then contextualizing it to the conversation we’re having about policing. And so this goes  back to that, like how do we hire people? How do we hire an officer regardless of their color

so that they can distinguish between a behavior that someone is doing versus a threat that  somebody is? Because a behavior is not necessarily a threat.

And so when we get triggered by those things, then that’s something that is within us. And  so it goes back to, I mean, if we could go back to that instead of saying respectfully disagree,  is there a question that you could ask Annett about what she shared with you? Because  what she shared with you is real for her.

So I think that goes back to that whole idea of how are we training people? Because I think  that’s one of the systemic pieces in policing where we have to start thinking about those  things because your odd behavior, whatever it is, could end your life or could put you on a

trajectory that you didn’t set out to do when you whatever, got in your car or called the  police because you were scared about something.

Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde: Breaking patterns, right, of systems, I think it’s…

Facilitator: Yeah, both are individual and systemic patterns that we have to start to really  look at. And if it’s a blind spot, you can just say it’s a blind spot for me. I need to learn more  because you’re absolutely right—we all have blind spots. And so to do this work, we’ve got  to really dissect these things and start to figure out how do we approach them in a way that  this [holding his glasses out] doesn’t look like a threat to somebody when I’m doing this. I’m  just really nervous right now—oh, he’s got something in his hand. Oh, wait, it’s just his  glasses, right? Because that’s a real experience.

Jude Landsman: It goes, to me, to leadership qualities, like we were just talking about,  having officers that already possess some semblance of that. Well, there’s a long way to go,  a long way to go. And in terms of trust, there’s no previous behavior that we can go by for  your leadership skills.

There just aren’t, you know. Like I said, a clean record from APD doesn’t hold much weight.  And the behaviors that we’ve seen have not been indicative of someone in the highest  leadership of the police department in Boulder.

We have students. We have more diversity coming. There very well may be future protests.

You know, in my, whatever, seven years in the NAACP and talking to people directly, I  haven’t met a Black man in Boulder who has not been stopped by the police. Okay? It may  not get on your radar, and something tragic may not have happened. The person may just  have been scared to death and gone, oh, okay, I got away with it—you know, I got away  from the police without losing my life. But it doesn’t mean those incidents aren’t happening.  Really, do a study. Do a demographic study.

Annett James: Look at their own report. Look at the Hillard-Heintz Report. It tells you.

Jude Landsman: Yeah, but I mean, find out how many Black people, particularly Black men  in Boulder, who have not been stopped for one reason or another.

I think we need, we have a time of possible change. You know, we’re always, like, why  should we have a leader that we have to, like, teach the basics?

###

The post Naacp Boulder County Press Release Regarding Boulder City Manager Rivera-Vandermyde’s Selection Of Redfearn As Chief Of Police | Press Release appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Press releases are provided to Yellow Scene Magazine. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

Have you seen what the Aurora Police did to UNARMED Kilyn E. Lewis? It’s time to mobilize just as we did for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Elijah McClain.

Kilyn E. Lewis, 37, was fatally shot in the stomach by the Aurora Police Department. He succumbed to his injuries days later. Click here to read the Aurora Sentinel story and watch the body camera footage of his murder.

I have been appointed to the Justice for Kilyn Action Team, and we are organizing the community to demand justice! We need you NOW—not when his name trends on social media.

The Justice for Kilyn Action Team, following the lead of his mother and older brother, is organizing two immediate rallies where your presence is crucial. Please attend both events:

Friday, June 21st at 7:00 PM

Emergency Action for Kilyn Lewis

Aurora Municipal Center

(15151 E Alameda Pkwy, Aurora, CO 80012)

Monday, June 24th at 6:00 PM

Aurora City Council Meeting, Justice for Kilyn

Aurora Municipal Center

(15151 E Alameda Pkwy, Aurora, CO 80012)

Family demands charges after bodycam video shows man was unarmed when shot by Aurora police

Please join us and share the flyers for these events. Your support is needed NOW to demand justice for Kilyn E. Lewis.

Sincerely,

The post Emergency Action Rally for Kilyn E Lewis, Aurora CO, June 21 and 24, 2024 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

By: Hashim Coates

Aurora Human Relations Commissioner (Former)

www.hashimcoates.com

Honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. is a delicate task, one that requires a nuanced understanding of his multifaceted contributions to the struggle for justice and equality. As we approach ceremonies like the laying of a wreath, it is crucial to scrutinize the actions of the institutions involved, particularly the police and fire departments. My experiences in the aftermath of the Elijah McClain tragedy, participation in city activism, and service on civic committees have led me to question the appropriateness of such institutions being part of MLK ceremonies.

The events surrounding Elijah McClain’s death have cast a shadow over the Aurora Police Department, prompting the state to intervene with a consent agreement. The behavior that led to this agreement underscores the urgent need for reform within law enforcement. It raises the question: Should a police department under such scrutiny be entrusted with commemorating the legacy of a civil rights icon?

Moreover, the culpability of the Aurora Fire Department in the same incident adds another layer of complexity. If these institutions are still navigating issues of excessive force and questionable practices, can they genuinely represent the principles Dr. King stood for?  The laying of a wreath is not merely a symbolic act but an endorsement of the values associated with the person being honored. In the case of Martin Luther King Jr., this entails a commitment to justice, equality, and nonviolence.

Attempting to honor Dr. King’s legacy without addressing the systemic issues within these institutions risks falling into a dangerous trap of revisionist history. It is essential to resist the temptation to sanitize or water down the more challenging aspects of Dr. King’s legacy. His vision extended beyond the famous “I Have a Dream” speech, encompassing a broader spectrum of issues like anti-war activism, housing equality, economic justice for Black communities, and the integration of the working class into the pursuit of a better America.

Drawing parallels between historical events, such as the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and contemporary challenges, like the Elijah McClain case, highlights the ongoing struggle for justice. Dr. King’s dream was not a static, one-dimensional vision; it was a dynamic call for societal transformation. To pay genuine tribute to him, we must confront the uncomfortable truths and complexities that defined his activism.

The notion that Dr. King was assassinated solely for his “I Have a Dream” speech oversimplifies the motives behind his tragic death. It was his unwavering commitment to challenging societal norms, advocating for anti-war sentiments, demanding fair housing, championing economic equity for Black communities, and his desire to unite all people to address the issue of classism, workers’ rights, and his support for unions that made him a target. The integration of the working class, including poor whites, into the broader movement for societal betterment was a cornerstone of Dr. King’s vision.

As we reflect on his legacy, it becomes evident that honoring him goes beyond ceremonial gestures. It requires a genuine commitment to the principles he fought for and a willingness to address the root causes of injustice. If police and fire departments are to participate in MLK ceremonies, it is imperative that they actively demonstrate progress in rectifying the issues that tarnish their reputation.

In the wake of Elijah McClain’s tragic death, our community faces the challenge of reconciling with a painful reality. To honor Dr. King authentically, we must demand accountability, transparency, and tangible change from the institutions that claim to represent justice.

The laying of a wreath becomes meaningful not through mere symbolism but through a collective commitment to dismantling systemic injustices—a commitment that reflects the true spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.

The post Remembering the Legacy of Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

By John Herrick, Boulder Reporting Lab (Via AP Storyshare)

A high-profile dispute is brewing in Boulder connected with the ongoing trial over the death of Elijah McClain.

Boulder’s deputy police chief, Steve Redfearn, has hired a lawyer in response to allegations from a local attorney related to the case. McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, died in 2019 in Aurora after he was forcibly arrested while unarmed and given a powerful sedative by paramedics.

Redfearn’s decision came after the NAACP Boulder County published letters calling for his resignation.
Redfearn was a captain with the Aurora Police Department on the night police confronted McClain. He arrived on the scene as McClain was being transported to the hospital. In September 2021, Redfearn left the Aurora Police Department, where he had worked for 22 years, and joined Boulder’s department.

Last month, he was subpoenaed as a witness by state prosecutors in the first trial over the death of McClain. During his testimony, Redfearn said he changed the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) report after the officers’ encounter with McClain from “suspicious person” to “assault on a police officer.” He modified the report after speaking with officers who were on the scene but before the completion of any investigation into the incident.

It is now established fact that McClain did not assault officers on the night he was forcibly arrested.
Even so, the code used to describe the incident that night does not appear to have played a role in any of the subsequent investigations into McClain’s death. Instead, investigators have relied on body camera footage and interviews with police officers, among other evidence.

But in light of this testimony, three members of the NAACP Boulder County sent a letter to city officials on Oct. 1, alleging Redfearn’s decision to change the dispatch records “reeked of a cover up.” The organization is circulating a petition calling for Redfearn to resign or be removed. The petition has not been approved by NAACP headquarters, Portia Prescott, the president of the NAACP Colorado, Montana, Wyoming State Area Conference, told Boulder Reporting Lab. Such approval is standard protocol under the organization’s bylaws, Prescott said.

In an interview with Boulder Reporting Lab, Redfearn said he changed the dispatch code because an officer informed him that McClain had attempted to grab his gun. Investigators have since found no evidence to confirm this claim after reviewing body camera footage. Redfearn said there was no specific dispatch code for this type of incident, so he chose the next “closest thing,” based on the information he received at the time.

“There was no intent on my part to cover anything up,” Redfearn said. “My changing that code did not indicate that I believed that that happened. I was just doing it based on what was shared with me.”

Once Redfearn learned McClain had lost consciousness during his encounter with officers, he said he called Aurora’s detective commander and requested an investigation by a critical incident team. That team included representatives from the Aurora Police Department, the Denver Police Department and the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, according to the City of Aurora. This request prompted the first investigation into the officers’ encounter with McClain within hours.

“I did quite the opposite on scene of what someone would do if they were intending to try to cover something up,” Redfearn said.

In an Oct. 22 letter to community members also calling for Redfearn to resign, Darren O’Connor, chair of the criminal justice committee for NAACP Boulder County, cited a lawsuit that alleged Redfearn and dozens of other officials used excessive force in their response to a June 2020 vigil for McClain outside the Aurora Municipal Center. The vigil included clashes between demonstrators and police wearing riot gear. O’Connor alleged the response from police is an example of Redfearn’s “history of violence against peaceful civilians.”

The defendants denied many of the allegations and settled the case by agreeing to pay the five plaintiffs $750,000. Redfearn told Boulder Reporting Lab he was one of hundreds of officers called to the scene that day, and he was following orders from a command post. He said he deployed pepper spray when three men tried to take a nightstick from a sheriff’s deputy.

In their letters, O’Connor and the NAACP have highlighted Redfearn’s decades-long career with the Aurora Police Department and the omission of this experience in his city biography. A 2021 state civil rights probe found the Aurora Police Department “has a pattern and practice of racially biased policing, using excessive force, and failing to record required information when it interacts with the community.” The report was published the same month Redfearn joined the City of Boulder.

“[City officials] knew that if they put on his bio he had 22 years of experience in Aurora that eyebrows might go up,” O’Connor, who has been leading the calls for Redfearn’s resignation, told Boulder Reporting Lab.

Redfearn said he is proud of his career in law enforcement. While in Aurora, he was among the officers who responded to the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting in which the gunman killed 12 people.

“I’ve had to overcome a lot to get to where I am in this profession,” he said. “I’m very proud of the work that I’m doing.”

In light of the public allegations circulating against him, Redfearn said he has hired Stan Garnett, a former Boulder County district attorney, in his personal capacity to help him “weigh any options going forward.” He has not taken any legal action, but said the allegations against him have been “disparaging” and “borderline, if not flat out, defamation.”

“In this case, mischaracterization and sometimes just flat out inaccurate remarks just aren’t helpful. And so I felt like I needed to have some protection,” Redfearn said.

He added that he wants to focus on implementing the department’s “reimagine policing” plan. “Maybe we can continue to move on with all the good work and this can stop being such a huge distraction,” he said.

Garnett is representing Steve Rosenblum, a former candidate for the Boulder City Council, in a defamation lawsuit against five local political organizers. Earlier this year, a judge dismissed the allegations against all but one of the defendants. Part of the case was tossed out under a Colorado law that aims to prevent frivolous lawsuits.

Dispatch reports are intended for internal record-keeping, Redfearn said. But the information documented in the report from the night of McClain’s encounter with officers emerged as one of the first official public records generated by police following their encounter with McClain.

With four years of hindsight, the suggestion that McClain assaulted an officer is shocking to many, given what is now known through body camera footage, investigations by law enforcement agencies and an independent investigation commissioned by the Aurora City Council.

The investigations into McClain’s death came under heightened scrutiny when his case received renewed attention during the 2020 protests over the police killings of Black people. In 2021, a forensic pathologist amended McClain’s autopsy report to change his cause of death from “undetermined” to “complications of ketamine administration following forcible restraint.” State lawmakers, meanwhile, enacted police reforms, including a ban on carotid chokeholds, following protests in which McClain’s name was chanted among the many who have died while in police custody.

The incident began on the evening of Aug. 24, 2019, when officers responded to a call about a man who was “acting weird.” They confronted McClain, a massage therapist, as he was walking home from a convenience store. Within seconds of asking him to stop, one officer grabbed him by the arm. An officer restrained him twice using a chokehold. An officer threatened to have a dog bite him if he kept “messing around.” After paramedics arrived on the scene, they injected him with ketamine. He later died in the hospital.

In November 2019, the former district attorney for the 17th Judicial District, Dave Young, declined to file charges against the three officers. It was later determined by an independent investigation that the Aurora Police Department’s investigation “revealed significant weaknesses in the Department’s accountability systems” and was “flawed and failed to meaningfully develop a fulsome record.”

The current trial is the result of a grand jury indictment that followed an investigation by Attorney General Phil Weiser, prompted by an executive order from Gov. Jared Polis. State prosecutors charged three Aurora officers for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for their role in McClain’s death, specifically the use of “violent subdual and restraint” techniques, according to the indictment.

In October 2023, a jury issued a split decision, convicting one officer and acquitting the other. Trials involving the third officer and two paramedics are ongoing.

O’Connor and other members of the NAACP Boulder County have suggested they made their allegations as part of a broader effort over several years to seek accountability for the officers who confronted McClain.

“What we know is it’s in conformity with the rest of [the Aurora Police Department’s] pattern and practice of changing the history of what actually happened,” O’Connor said, referring to the dispatch report changes. “It was a cover up.”

City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde has come to Redfearn’s defense, arguing the allegations against him are a “misrepresentation” of the facts.

“This was merely an administrative task to ensure that the dispatch call accurately reflected the information that was given to him at the time by the on-scene sergeants,” Rivera-Vandermyde said in a statement about the code change. She added, “The allegations shared with us from NAACP Boulder County are inaccurate and could damage the relationships that Chief Maris Herold and Deputy Chief Stephen Redfearn have worked hard to build in this community.”

Separately, in a recent email to councilmembers and city officials, Councilmember Mark Wallach said O’Connor’s campaign against Redfearn amounts to “performative outrage” and suggested it could harm the reputation of NAACP Boulder County.

Prescott, the president of the NAACP Colorado, Montana, Wyoming State Area Conference, said she did not know whether Redfearn’s decisions during his time as a captain in Aurora warrant his resignation.
“He has a scary background with Aurora. But now he’s making up for that,” she said. “He is testifying against the police. He is a witness for the attorney general.”

Prescott said a group of lawyers at NAACP headquarters should have reviewed the allegations before the Boulder branch called for his resignation. That is the standard protocol, she said.

“You know the resources we have at the D.C. and Baltimore offices to go investigate?” Prescott said. “It’s not a question of who’s right or who’s wrong. It’s a question of having many people behind you doing the homework and the fact finding.”

Martha Wilson, a former child welfare caseworker who was a founding member of the city’s Police Oversight Panel, said she has been following the trial from within the courtroom. She also attended the protests over McClain’s death in 2020. In the context of what is known now about the death of McClain, she said the decision to change the dispatch report was “disturbing.”

“That act is what criminalized him,” Wilson said. “There was so much unnecessary use of force that to then classify that as assaulting an officer is just — I don’t know how to reconcile that in my head.”

She is not calling for Redfearn to resign. Instead, Wilson said she would like to see reforms that require officers to take into account whether someone is on the spectrum and to add steps to the process of categorizing an incident as “assault on a police officer” in the dispatch reports.

“Those are two aspects where societal grief can help us to make better-informed decisions now,” she said.

The post Boulder deputy police chief hires legal counsel amid Elijah McClain accusations and escalating dispute appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

[LOCAL]

• Mike Johnston wins the Denver mayoral race, although neither candidate was likely to bring about real change.
• Boulder Beat to close down at the end of this year, sadly ending one of the best voices for real, local Boulder journalism.
• Boulder Police Oversight Panel member Lisa Sweeney-Miran is removed by City Council, prompting the panel to pause their work.
• In yet another controversy, Aurora Police execute an armed teenage boy fleeing from officers after stealing vape cartridges.
• Governor Polis signs “Magic Mushroom” Bill into law, regulating newly approved psychedelic drug therapy.
• Dacono City Councilmembers Jackie Thomas and Jim Turini are recalled over their abrupt actions surrounding the removal of the City Manager.
• Louisville City Councilmember Maxine Most faces a recall election regarding her alleged lack of compassion following the Marshall Fire.
• With recent laws against transgender care, Colorado is offering itself as a safe haven for youths in need of gender affirming care.

[NATIONAL]

• Trump indicted a second time, this time 37 counts including for hiding confidential documents. His lawyers immediately quit.
• Wildfire smoke from Canada obscures views of NYC and creates mass health hazards across North America. Canada still burns.
• Private fishing trips, vacations, and other potentially corrupting events have come to light surrounding multiple conservative Supreme Court Justices bringing into question the ethics of judicial decision.
• Hollywood writers go on strike, stalling many major productions and delaying releases.
• Texas woman who traveled to Colorado for an abortion was shot and killed by her boyfriend when she returned home.
• George Santos turned himself in and pleaded not guilty to charges of financial crimes.

[INTERNATIONAL]

• Explosion rocks the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine with evidence pointing towards Russia as the culprit. This will disrupt water and power supply for tens of thousands of people.
• France erupts in protests when a minority teen boy was killed by the police. Don’t worry, you won’t need to cancel your summer trip to Paris.
• Charles III is crowned King of England, which we honestly still cannot believe is a thing in this day and age.

Small Talk:

“Today is the day that Black Americans really get to celebrate our freedom … And in that, it’s important to get the whole community involved and engaged in that so that we can uplift Black voices together as a community.” – Terryjosiah Sharpe, coordinator of Colorado Springs first widespread Juneteenth celebration

“It’s good. It’s good. The job is done. We can go home now.” – Nikola Jokic on his incredible performance winning the NBA Championship with the Denver Nuggets

“Her pleas for help were shrugged off, she said, and she was repeatedly sent home from the hospital. Doctors and nurses told her she was suffering from normal contractions, she said, even as her abdominal pain worsened and she began to vomit bile. Angelica said she wasn’t taken seriously until a searing pain rocketed throughout her body and her baby’s heart rate plummeted.” – Angelica Lyons on giving birth as a Black woman via AP News

“I can’t imagine how terrible this must be for the child’s family, and also our first responder community… Today has been heavy for the City of Boulder, and we are all thinking of the family who just lost their child.” – Boulder Police Chief Maris Harold on the accidental drowning of a 9-year old in Boulder Creek

“I was incredibly surprised given the fact that I’ve been happily married to a woman for the last 15 years.” – Said Stewart, the man named in the Supreme Court ruling that just set back gay rights

By the Numbers:

$107,500 – Amount a family of four need to earn to live comfortably in the BOCO region
63.01 Degrees – Hottest overall average temperature ever recorded for the globe this past July 4th
2018 – Year when Titanic submersible company OceanGate was warned their underwater vehicle was not safe
28.8 – Amount of points Ron DeSantis lags behind Trump in latest poll according to fivethirtyeight.com
$56,000 – Base pay for teachers in St. Vrain Valley School District after recent raise by the district

The post Month in Review | June/July 2023 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

by Carina Julig and Max Levy, The Sentinel (AP Storyshare)

Why? Questions build after police begin revealing details after police shoot and kill boy, 14, accused of armed robbery

Protesters outside Aurora city hall June 9, 2023 waiting for the end of an Aurora police press conference where interim Police Chief Art Acevedo released body cam video of the shooting of 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson after an alleged armed robbery.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

For the first time since the long, hot summer of 2020, racial justice protesters shut down traffic in Aurora as they marched in the streets Friday afternoon demanding justice for Jor’Dell Richardson, a 14-year-old shot and killed by police on June 1.

Attorney Siddartha Rathod speaks outside Aurora city hall June 9, 2023 after an Aurora police press conference where interim Police Chief Art Acevedo released body cam video of the shooting of 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson after an alleged armed robbery.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

The protestors voiced anger at Friday’s announcement from the Aurora Police Department that Richardson, a suspect in the robbery of an Aurora convenience store, had a pellet gun at the time of his death — not a firearm, as police had said earlier.

“Jor’Dell was a boy and had a toy,” said Siddhartha Rathod, a lawyer representing Richardson’s family.

Police argued that the pellet gun looked like a real firearm, describing it as a replica of a Heckler & Koch USP handgun.

On Monday, friends and members of Richardson’s family announced they will hold a memorial and funeral procession Friday at the Aurora Municipal Center with the boy’s casket.

Many in the crowd on Friday were veterans of the protests calling for justice for Elijah McClain, and questioned why the city was yet again asking for answers following the death of a young Black male at the hands of police.

“You cannot be trusted if you cannot tell us the truth,” Pastor Thomas Mayes said of APD. “Come clean, or stay away dirty.”

Protesters march outside Aurora city hall June 9, 2023 after an Aurora police press conference where interim Police Chief Art Acevedo released body cam video of the shooting of 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson after an alleged armed robbery.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

Dueling press conferences took place Friday afternoon at the Aurora municipal complex, with APD holding a press conference where body-worn camera footage of the shooting was publicly released for the first time. Following the police press conference, Richardson’s family held a press conference and then a march around the complex, which spilled into the streets.

Laurie Littlejohn, mother of Jor’Dell Johnson, and her son Keyshawn Richardson, touching her shoulder, outside Aurora city hall June 9, 2023 after an Aurora police press conference where interim Police Chief Art Acevedo released body cam video of the shooting of 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson after an alleged armed robbery.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

Scheduled for 3:30 p.m., the family’s press conference began over an hour and a half late due to how late the sprawling and lengthy police press conference ran, where the footage was not shown until about 45 minutes in.

Some protesters accused the police of intentionally stalling to try to discourage the crowd, which Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo scoffed at.

“I’m not going to come in here and rush this press conference because he thinks that’s what I should do, and shame on him,” he said in response to a comment from Rathod.

Acevedo at the press conference, avoided weighing in on the decision by one of his officers to fatally shoot Richardson but displayed an image that he said showed the boy reaching into his waistband for a pellet gun resembling a firearm.

Explaining his reluctance to talk about officers’ actions, he said the investigation by the 18th Judicial District’s Critical Incident Response Team into whether criminal charges ought to be filed against the officers involved was ongoing, along with an internal probe.

Multiple sources familiar with the matter told the Sentinel that the chief has spoken about the possibility of pulling the department out of its current agreement with the 17th and 18th judicial districts to handle investigations of officer-involved shootings.

The chief would not answer whether Aurora police would remain in the current agreement but said the process was not entirely consistent with what he would like to see. He said it would not impact the Richardson investigation and that he didn’t want to speculate on who might take over those investigations.

Friday’s event included the release of body-worn camera footage from the perspective of two Aurora officers involved in the June 1 incident — including the officer who fired the fatal single shot, Roch Gruszeczka — though the videos fail to show what exactly Richardson was doing at the moment he was shot.

After Officer James Snapp tackled Richardson, the teen said, “Stop, please, you got me.”

“Gun, gun, let go of the f*****g gun,” Gruszeczka yells. He then yells that he is going to fire, and a gunshot is heard.

The footage captures the hectic final moments of Richardson’s life as he screams, pleads for help, tells officers that he cannot breathe and becomes unresponsive. Police tried unsuccessfully to revive Richardson before paramedics arrived and took over medical care.

While Acevedo would not say whether he believed Gruszeczka was right in shooting Richardson, one image highlighted by Acevedo that was taken from another officer’s perspective shortly before Richardson was tackled to the ground and several seconds before he was shot showed Richardson’s hand near his waistband.

Aurora Police Department Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo addresses the press during a conference, June 9, at APD Headquarters to address the police shooting of JorÕDell Richardson after an alleged armed robbery.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

The chief remarked to those present, “you can make your own assessment, and that will be part of the investigation.”

Acevedo said Gruszeczka and Snapp were both hired in 2017 and are presently serving with the department’s gang intervention unit. He also said neither officer had a record of “significant” use-of-force incidents or disciplinary histories.

Responding to criticism from community members stemming from his apparent decision to tell Richardson’s mother that he didn’t think the teen had suffered, Acevedo said he was hopeful Richardson did not suffer as his stomach wound worsened.

“I just hope and pray that he didn’t suffer, that he was in the arms of angels right away when he went into cardiac arrest,” he said. “It’s a tragedy because we have yet again in this country an encounter involving young people, and acts of violence, and ultimately an officer-involved … shooting.”

Community activist Candice Bailey outside Aurora city hall June 9, 2023 waiting for the end of an Aurora police press conference where interim Police Chief Art Acevedo released body cam video of the shooting of 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson after an alleged armed robbery.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

Richardson’s father, Jameco Richardson, criticized Acevedo for those comments at the family’s press conference.

“Our son died in a dirty alley,” he said. “How dare you.”

While Acevedo lamented the fact of the shooting, he said officers may have feared for their lives during the struggle with Richardson, who police say was tackled after robbing a convenience store for vape cartridges.

Addressing the attorneys representing the family of the slain teenager, Acevedo accused representatives of the family of misrepresenting what happened and said officers weren’t able to break the situation down at the time like people viewing the video footage frame by frame.

“When your life is on the line, mister attorney, what are you going to do?” Acevedo asked. “We have a 14-year-old kid dead, and we have officers who were involved who have to live with this critical incident for the rest of their lives. So it is not a toy. In fact, our officers believed that it was a semi-automatic, nine-millimeter (pistol). But I understand the lawyers’ (decision) to call it a toy. And by the way, pellet guns can cause serious bodily injury or death.”

Rathod said Richardson’s family was told that he had a pellet gun, not an actual handgun, “about five minutes” before the public press conference began. He said police did not give any explanation for why they were just being told this over a week after the shooting.

Acevedo said he had “confirmed” that the item was a pellet gun rather than a firearm the day before Friday’s news conference. He later blamed a communication breakdown within the department for the delay.

Councilmember Juan Marcano, with microphone, addresses protesters outside Aurora city hall June 9, 2023 waiting for the end of an Aurora police press conference where interim Police Chief Art Acevedo released body cam video of the shooting of 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson after an alleged armed robbery.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

Juan Marcano, an Aurora City Council member, also said that the information was new to him despite having been in conversation with the police department since the incident.

Acevedo criticized the media for sharing what he said was incorrect information about the shooting without specifying what coverage had been in error.

Leon Kelly, executive director of Open Door Youth Gang Initiatives, was also invited by police to speak. He argued that the individuals who were with Richardson, and community members who did not intervene to dissuade Richardson from involvement in crime, were also to blame for the teen’s death.

“I wouldn’t be standing here if I didn’t have compassion for the family,” he said. “This is not a George Floyd. … This was technically a robbery. It was in the commission of a crime.”

He argued that Acevedo had acted with transparency by releasing the body-worn camera footage and sharing other information with the public.

Acevedo said two other 14-year-olds involved in the alleged June 1 robbery had been arrested on suspicion of false imprisonment and aggravated robbery and that other people who were involved had been tentatively identified.

Rathod characterized APD’s press conference as an attempt by Acevedo to “exonerate” the officers rather than an exercise in transparency. Other speakers made similar remarks.

Jameco Richardson said that he would like to see Acevedo removed from his position. “You don’t deserve that badge,” he said. “You don’t deserve to be called chief. You’re a coward.”

Also present were Richardson’s mother, 19-year-old brother and grandmother. His mother, Laurie Littlejohn, said that he had been “the light of our house.” “For a week now, our light has dimmed low,” she said.

Littlejohn thanked everyone for the support the family has received over the past week, and said that her son did not deserve what happened to him. “In life, we make mistakes so that we can grow,” she said. “They took that from our son.”

Littlejohn asked people not to forget his name in the weeks and months to come.

“This is going to be a long road for us,” she said.

>>>>>Pellet gun revelation timeline

On Monday, Acevedo blamed communication lapses in his department for the fact that it took more than a week to correct past statements that Richardson had a handgun at the time of the shooting.

Acevedo announced at a news conference the day of the shooting that Richardson had a “semi-automatic firearm pistol,” referring to the item as a firearm or gun no fewer than four times. Community activists Candice Bailey and Tim Hernandez said the chief reiterated at a meeting early last week with Aurora residents that Richardson had a gun.

While activists accused Acevedo of lying to deflect criticism from officers, the chief said after Monday’s Aurora City Council meeting that he first learned of the discrepancy Thursday when he asked department staffers for information about the gun that he could share with the public.

Acevedo said he would have had “nothing to gain” by intentionally misleading the public. When asked who told him that the item was a gun, Acevedo said, “I looked at it,” and also that he had not handled or touched it.

“Everybody’s looking at it. Everybody thinks it’s a firearm. What did it look like to you when you looked at it?,” he asked. “I didn’t get an update, and my assumption was that that was accurate. … I still need to find out who booked it into evidence, how it was booked into evidence and why I wasn’t updated sooner. Had I not asked for that update, I would still be in the dark on it.”

Rathod said he didn’t understand Acevedo’s comments over the past few days.

“Are we saying when APD officers shoot a 14-year-old boy, the chief of police isn’t briefed?” he asked. “I understand there’s a CIRT team investigation, and rightfully so…then he should be going out to the public saying I’m not briefed, I don’t know what happened. That’s not what he said.”

Rathod questioned why Acevedo had been making definitive public statements about the shooting if he wasn’t fully up to date on the investigation.

“Isn’t it irresponsible of him to be issuing a statement? None of this makes sense,” he said.

At Friday’s press conference, Acevedo said that he makes a point to personally respond to the scene of officer-involved shootings, noting that “you can rely on a report, you can rely on your own eyes, and I like to rely on both.”

He said he wanted to review the process of how information is shared within the department. The Sentinel asked the Aurora Police Department to provide a timeline of how the information was relayed before the chief reportedly made his request Thursday and were told police would “not be releasing any reports or documents until the three open investigations are completed.”

Before Acevedo spoke with the Sentinel on Monday, the Aurora Police Department offered an unclear answer for why it would take the police chief a week to determine the kind of weapon Richardson had.

“The 18th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team is the primary investigative agency into the shooting,” spokeswoman Faith Goodrich wrote in an email Monday afternoon.

“Additionally, the officers, at the time the information was confirmed to the Chief, had not been interviewed. To respect the open investigation by CIRT, and to not taint any interviews that had not yet occurred, that information was withheld until Friday’s press conference.”

Acevedo said he was still getting accustomed to Aurora’s arrangement with the CIRT team and that the situation was complicated by the multiple ongoing investigations into the incident, including the robbery case and concurrent internal affairs and CIRT probes.

The CIRT team is responsible for conducting all outside investigations of lethal officer use-of-force incidents for APD, though crime-scene evidence is the responsibility of the law enforcement agency being investigated, the district attorney’s office confirmed Monday for the Sentinel.

The chief also said representatives of the Richardson family who called the pellet gun “a toy” and who criticized officers’ decision to shoot the 14-year-old were trying to “rile up” the community.

“It is not a toy,” Acevedo said of the pellet gun carried by Richardson. “It looks just like what? An exact replica.”

Acevedo mentioned Friday and Monday how pellet guns have caused serious injuries and deaths, though they are not classified as firearms by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He also struck back at his critics, saying they were trying to sow discord in the community.

??“I made a report based on what I knew, and no one had advised me otherwise,” Acevedo said Monday. “I know that we want to find a boogeyman behind everything and try to build mistrust, but that’s not the way I roll.”

Past complaints about officer

Acevedo’s remarks at Friday’s press conference that neither officer involved in Richardson’s death had a record of “significant” use-of-force incidents or disciplinary histories were also called into question by court records showing Gruszeczka was a defendant in a lawsuit alleging that he and two other officers racially profiled two Black Aurorans during a 2018 search.

Officers Gruszeczka and Snapp took Richardson into custody, with Gruszeczka firing the single shot that killed him. The city settled the lawsuit against Gruszeczka and others for $100,000 in February.

In a complaint filed in 2020 in U.S. District Court in Colorado, lawyers for plaintiff Tevon Thomas allege that the City of Aurora and APD officers Gruszeczka, Jonathan Fullam and Cassie Longnecker violated Thomas’ Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure.

On Nov. 10, 2018 at about 3 a.m., a female friend gave Thomas a ride home to the apartment complex in Aurora where he lived with his mother, according to the complaint. The two, who are both Black, were having a conversation and continued to talk in the friend’s parked car once they arrived.

Around 4 a.m. another resident returning home from work called 911 and asked officers to escort her to the building out of an abundance of caution because there was a parked car running outside. The three officers responded, and after walking her inside, parked their police car behind the vehicle and began questioning the pair about where they lived.

“When Mr. Thomas began to answer, ‘my mother stays—’ he was interrupted by Defendant Gruszeczka, who demanded to know ‘honestly, where do you guys live at?’” the complaint said.

Gruszeczka then asked about the contents of the car and if there was “anything in the car I should know about,” the complaint said. He did not articulate a reason for his suspicion, according to the complaint.

After asking for both their IDs, Gruszeczka ordered the woman out of the car for questioning and placed her in the back of the police vehicle, the complaint said. He and the other officers then ordered Thomas out of the vehicle, and after seeing the handle of a pistol in his pocket, drew their guns and ordered him to lie down on the ground. He complied, and the officers handcuffed, searched and arrested him.

The complaint argued that the officers did not have any justification to search the car because neither Thomas nor his friend had been doing anything illegal at the time, and that the search was another example of Aurora’s “longstanding, persistent and widespread custom of illegally seizing Black people.”

“Rank-and-file members of the APD regularly escalate their interactions with Black people into unreasonable seizures without any basis for suspecting them of criminality or of being a threat to themselves or others,” the complaint said. “In conjunction, APD officers regularly use race and race-based animus as motivating factors in police decisions and actions.”

Thomas was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm as a felon. In 2020 a federal judge ruled that the evidence was inadmissible in court because Thomas had been illegally searched.

Community activist Candice Bailey and the Rev. Thomas Mayes outside Aurora city hall June 9, 2023 waiting for the end of an Aurora police press conference where interim Police Chief Art Acevedo released body cam video of the shooting of 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson after an alleged armed robbery.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

David Lane, one of the two attorneys who represented Thomas, said Tuesday that the treatment of his client was a clear example of racially biased policing.

“He was basically arrested for being Black while sitting in a parked car, and it cost Aurora $100,000,” Lane said.

Rathod said he believed it was hypocritical of Acevedo to specifically mention the officer’s lack of disciplinary history without also mentioning that Richardson had no previous criminal history.

“You know if he had a criminal history, they’d be going through it,” he said.

He said that the press conference, which Acevedo described as an exercise in transparency, was another example of APD selectively releasing information.

The department is under a consent decree “because of this exact type of behavior,” Rathod said.

The City of Aurora has been under a consent decree with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office since 2021 which mandates it to implement a litany of reforms intended to break a pattern of excessive force and racial bias. A “patterns and practices” investigation by the AG’s office found that APD had broken state and federal law and violated the civil rights of its residents through its policing of minorities.

The investigation, which began in August 2020 and was published about a year later, claims Aurora police use force against people of color about 2.5 times more than on their white counterparts, and local officers arrest Black residents about twice as much as whites.

Both Gruszeczka and Snapp have active certifications in Colorado’s peace officer database, according to Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards & Training website. Neither have any disciplinary records listed.

A records request from the Sentinel for both officers’ internal affairs files from APD is currently pending.

A public funeral and procession

For the second Friday in a row, supporters and family members of Richardson will gather at the Aurora Municipal Center, this time for a community memorial and procession.

The event will be directly following a private funeral for Richardson and will include eulogies by local faith leaders and a public procession of Richardson’s casket.

“Our family is in mourning, we are in pain, but our entire community is also in pain,” Jameco Richardson, Jor’Dell Richardson’s father, said in a Monday news release. “We are gathering together to honor and celebrate his life, and grieve a death that came far too early.”

The public event is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at city hall with eulogies from Richardson’s family members and faith leaders. At 5:40 p.m. a processional march will begin which will be led by pallbearers carrying Richardson’s casket.

The procession “will likely follow a route that surrounds the Aurora Municipal Center,” the release said. That’s the route protestors took Friday following a press conference on behalf of Richardson’s family, where a group of several hundred briefly halted traffic on South Chambers Road and East Alameda Parkway during a march around the complex.

A flyer for the event says the procession is scheduled to last until 6:30 p.m.

The event was initially announced Sunday to be taking place outside the Capitol Building in Denver, but was moved Monday afternoon.

A boy recites chants to a crowd of protesters outside Aurora city hall June 9, 2023 while waiting for the end of an Aurora police press conference where interim Police Chief Art Acevedo released body cam video of the shooting of 14-year-old Jor’Dell Richardson after an alleged armed robbery.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado

“Jor’Dell Richardson lived in Aurora and died in Aurora at the hands of the Aurora Police Department,” teacher and activist Tim Hernandez wrote in a Twitter post Monday. “Jor’Dell’s Community March and Procession will NOT be in Denver; it will be in Aurora, too.”

Donations for Richardson’s family are being solicited through a GoFundMe page which has raised about $16,500 as of Monday evening.

Organizers of the event include longtime Aurora activist and former city council candidate Candice Bailey.

“We are asking all people who care about racial justice in Denver, Aurora, and the larger Denver-Metro area to support the family of Jor’Dell Richardson on Friday as they lay their son to rest with community,” Bailey said in a statement.

Other organizers included Richardson’s friends and several former teachers.

Alicia Garcia, a former dean at Kenton Elementary School where Richardson attended prior to Aurora West, told the Sentinel on Friday that she was “absolutely gutted” by the news of his death.

While she believes that all kids have an inherent goodness, she said Richardson wasn’t the kind of student who got into trouble at school.

“If he was in the dean’s office, it was to bring my spirits up,” she said.

Garcia remembered Richardson as someone who was always trying to make jokes and cheer other people up.

“Some kids just have a bright light,” she said, tearing up. “And that was Jor’Dell.”

The post Accusations, explanations and talk of transparency dominatethe city after police-involved shooting death of boy, 14 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Special thank to Brian Howey of The Sentinal (via AP Storyshare)

Some officers creating problems with criminal cases continue without consequences or department review

In The Blue is a project of the Sentinel Colorado Investigative Reporting Lab. The Lab’s mission is to engage with readers, journalists, decision makers and residents around impactful accountability reporting that serves all communities of Aurora. The series is an extended look at local police reform and related issues.

AURORA | Brandon Washington ran a red light in April 2017 and smashed into another car in an Aurora intersection. Aurora Police Department Sgt. Jeffery Longnecker, who witnessed the accident, approached the scene to check on him.

When a dazed Washington tried to get out of the car against Longnecker’s orders, Longecker grabbed his arm, and a struggle ensued. Officer Benjamin Petering arrived and, at Longnecker’s direction, tased Washington repeatedly. Officers yanked Washington from the car and kneeled on his back as he struggled.

“I can’t breathe,” Washington, an asthmatic Black man, said repeatedly as officers handcuffed him.

“You can breathe,” an officer can be heard saying in body-worn police camera footage.

Police found cocaine in Washington’s clenched hands and a stolen pistol inside the car, which Washington had recently rented. Washington, who claimed the gun wasn’t his, had a previous felony conviction that barred him from possessing a gun, and he risked decades in prison for gun and drug charges the federal government filed after the car crash.

What might have been a slam-dunk criminal case for the feds instead became a federal civil rights victory for Washington.

During Washington’s criminal proceedings, a judge ruled that Longnecker breached Washington’s Fourth Amendment rights when he searched Washington without probable cause. The judge suppressed the gun and drug evidence, scuttling the federal criminal case and allowing Washington to walk free. Washington then leveraged that judge’s constitutional ruling to sue the police department for the unlawful search and excessive force – a case that ended in the city paying Washington a $125,000 settlement.

Despite the officers’ missteps, the police department conducted no internal affairs investigation of the Washington case, and Longnecker and Petering were never disciplined, according to police records, court documents and statements by department officials.

“That means nobody was communicating about it. Nobody was pulling each other’s coat or holding nobody accountable,” Washington said about his case.

Longnecker is one of at least two officers each named in two separate lawsuits that have been settled by the city since 2018.

The Sentinel’s review of those cases revealed that neither officer was investigated or disciplined by the department for their roles in those incidents, even after they seem to have violated department policies and the constitutional rights of those they arrested. Those cases, just a fraction of the 27 police-involved lawsuits recently settled by the city, highlight a pattern of problematic officer behavior that went overlooked by the department even after it cost the city $19.8 million in settlement payouts and helped land Aurora in a long and costly consent decree.

Joshua Perrott, the second officer, may have violated department body-worn camera policy and the constitutional rights of a teenager in one of the two lawsuits he was named in.

A third officer, Daniel Vieth, was also a defendant in at least two lawsuits during the same period. The Sentinel requested all three officers’ disciplinary records in February, but the department hasn’t provided Vieth’s records.

The cases come to light a year after Aurora entered into a court-ordered consent decree that resulted from a 2019 investigation by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. The investigation, prompted in part by the fatal detainment of 23-year-old Elijah McClain, found the Aurora department engaged in racially biased policing.

The investigation also found that civil rights lawsuits are poor accountability measures for the department, in part because officers rarely receive any feedback or discipline for conduct that triggers lawsuits.

The Sentinel’s findings have raised concerns among policing experts, including Jeff Schlanger, the independent police monitor responsible for assessing the city’s progress under the consent decree.

“We’re going to look at these [cases] and decide whether or not there’s anything that can or should be done at this point,” Schlanger said. “We believe that enhanced supervision is really what is necessary, and that means looking at these incidents as they occur, not waiting for them to accumulate.”

Longnecker declined to comment for this story via a department representative, but he defended under oath his unconstitutional search of Washington during the lawsuit.

“(Any time) you can get a felon with a gun off the street, I think that’s good police work,” Longnecker said in the 2020 deposition.

In the deposition, Longnecker said no supervisor ever discussed with him the judge’s ruling that his conduct was unconstitutional, and he didn’t learn of that ruling for at least seven months. Aurora, like many police departments, does not track these suppression rulings, leaving department supervisors and their officers unaware when courts find they have violated people’s civil rights.

“There are a lot of really important societal interests that are harmed by not tracking this,” said Jonathan Abel, an associate professor at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, who has studied how police departments track officer misconduct.

Among those concerns is a lack of accountability when officers violate people’s rights that can result in police repeating unconstitutional arrest techniques, Abel said. Departments also miss out on an important way to monitor officer conduct and arrest outcomes. Ultimately, allowing unconstitutional policing to go unchecked can cost prosecutors cases that might have been straightforward convictions.

Not tracking suppression rulings can also be a liability for police departments. That’s because rulings by judges in criminal cases that an officer may have breached a defendant’s constitutional rights make it easier for those defendants, once charges against them are dropped, to file and win civil rights lawsuits.

“A federal judge had already said his Fourth Amendment rights were violated, that the officers did not have probable cause to do a search, and they nevertheless did so,” Darold Killmer, a civil rights attorney who represented Washington in his lawsuit against Aurora, said about that case. “What left is there to prove?”

Aurora’s Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo, along with Schlanger, who’s monitoring whether the city is abiding by the consent decree, both say the department should start tracking suppression rulings. Acevedo said he would discuss with Schlanger the possibility of including them in future reviews of officer behavior.

“A lot of times people think (suppression rulings are) malicious and a lot of times it’s just lack of experience or (that officers) need better training,” Acevedo said. “Everybody has a role to play. And it’s not just the police department…It’s the judges, it is the judiciary, it is the defense bar, it is the prosecutors. We all have to be at the table when it comes to accountability.”

The only internal review of Washington’s case was by the department’s Force Review Board, which ruled that the officers followed department policy when they tased Washington and pinned him to the ground. Department policy, however, allows officers to tase suspects no more than three times for a total of 15 seconds, except in extreme circumstances. Petering tased Washington four times for a total of 22 seconds. The report by the board – which is made up of several department representatives – did not address that discrepancy.

During his career at the Aurora Police Department, Longnecker has been named as a defendant in at least four civil rights lawsuits. None of the lawsuits triggered investigations by the department into his behavior, according to his disciplinary records.

Longnecker was briefly a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit over a 2004 fatal police shooting. A judge dismissed the case after the mother of the plaintiffs, who were children, failed to secure an attorney to represent them.

Longnecker was sued in 2013 for using excessive force for his alleged involvement in an arrest that chipped a bank robber’s tooth. The city settled the case for $5,000 to cover the cost of the man’s dental care.

In 2018, Longnecker was sued for allegedly violating an Aurora hospital employee’s rights by illegally impounding the man’s car, refusing to return the car and accusing the man of eluding Longnecker, being on drugs and driving drunk. The city settled the case for $38,000.

Although these lawsuits did not trigger internal affairs investigations, the department has probed Longnecker’s conduct at least seven times because of complaints alleging racial profiling, unprofessional conduct and a 2012 incident in which Longnecker shot a suspect.

The Sentinel’s review of those complaints found that in five of the seven reports by the department, investigators gave no indication that they interviewed Longnecker. Investigators cleared him in every complaint, most of which were determined to be unfounded.

“In some cases, a review of (body-worn camera footage) or speaking to others on scene negates the need for further investigation or interview,” department spokesperson Faith Goodrich wrote in an email when asked why Longnecker wasn’t interviewed during the investigations.

Some report details were so vague it was difficult to determine the circumstances of the incidents. The report about the 2012 shooting, for example, indicates Longnecker was investigated for allegedly firing at or from a moving vehicle, a potential policy violation, but the three-page report includes just three sentences describing an incident in which a man carrying a shotgun refused orders by police to drop it. Longnecker shot the man in the chest. The report does not indicate whether the man survived. Investigators ruled that Longnecker followed department policy, but they did not include their reasons for that determination, nor how a vehicle was involved in the shooting.

The next year, internal affairs investigators compiled a far longer report about a much less serious allegation by a man who said Longnecker and his colleagues were rude and failed to provide their business cards to him when they broke up a hotel party he was attending. Unlike the report about the 2012 shooting, the 11-page investigation included extensive details about the circumstances of the complaint, many of which were written by Longnecker himself, and notes from Longnecker’s commander that the superior would discuss the incident with him and other supervisors who were on the scene. Nevertheless, the man’s complaint was ruled unfounded.

The only documented discipline Longnecker seems to have received in his 25 years as an Aurora officer was for accidentally firing his gun while at his home. Longnecker later said he self-reported the shooting. The department suspended him without pay for 10 hours.

In the deposition, Longnecker said he wasn’t interviewed by internal affairs officers responsible for investigating several of the complaints filed against him.

During the deposition, Washington’s civil rights lawyer, Darold Killmer, asked Longnecker, who is white, if he thought it was thorough investigative work not to interview an officer accused by a civilian of racial profiling.

“If the investigator can explain why there’s no need to interview the officer, then yeah,” Longnecker said.

Acevedo, Aurora’s interim police chief, said such a lax approach won’t fly under his leadership.

“When an allegation comes in, I expect it to be fully investigated,” he said in an interview. “And a very basic part of investigating a complaint is talking to the officer.”

Though it’s unusual for officers to have so little knowledge of complaints against them, policing experts say it’s relatively common for officers not to learn that a judge has ruled their conduct unconstitutional.

“There’s not a great feedback loop for prosecutors to tell police officers what’s happened to their cases,” Abel said. “Part of the problem here is that officers are doing things on the street that are disconnected from what later becomes of the case.”

Patrol officers respond to numerous calls every day, making it difficult for them to follow each resulting criminal case to its end. And officers are frequently discouraged from following these cases so they can focus on making arrests.

“We’ve trained officers over the years, ‘Don’t be so invested in a case where you make it personal,’” Acevedo said. “You do your job and then you let the rest of the system do its job.”

Experts say prosecutors don’t routinely notify departments of suppression rulings unless they notice a pattern of suppressed evidence. Those patterns can be difficult to detect given that multiple offices, from city attorneys to district attorneys to federal prosecutors, are responsible for these cases.

The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado filed the federal gun and drug charges against Washington after his 2017 traffic accident, but the prosecutor and a spokesperson refused to comment on the case or say whether the office informed the Aurora PD of the judge’s ruling that Longnecker’s search was unconstitutional.

Aurora is required under the consent decree to develop an early intervention system that will track various aspects of officer behavior such as civil rights lawsuits, sustained complaints and disciplinary outcomes in order to alert the department when concerning patterns arise. Acevedo said he planned to discuss with Schlanger options for adding suppression rulings to that list.

It is unclear when the department will actually launch the early intervention system, in part because, as the consent decree monitor’s latest report shows, private companies the city has hired to develop the system have fallen behind schedule.

The report also approvingly noted Acevedo’s commitment to reform, saying that while the department had missed some deadlines, it is on track to meet its requirements under the consent decree.

The department has been rocked in recent years by a slew of incidents involving officer misconduct and what many have called indifferent disciplinary responses by department leadership.

In 2018, a woman accused Sgt. David Sandoval of stalking and harassing her, and an investigation by the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office concluded Sandoval should be criminally charged with harassment and domestic violence. Sandoval instead received a 240-hour unpaid suspension after admitting to using a department database to find the woman’s address. He faced no criminal changes by the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office and not only kept his job, but he was also promoted to lead one of the department’s special Direct Action Response Teams. He was never barred from investigating the same crimes he was accused of committing.

Aurora’s former interim Police Chief Dan Oates came under fire last year for reversing discipline against former Division Chief Cassidee Carlson after she helped Detective Julie Stahnke in an incident where Stahnke violated a restraining order protecting Stahnke’s estranged wife.

According to Denver Police records, Stahnke was charged with domestic violence after police were called to the Denver home of Stahnke and her estranged wife. Stahnke was arrested and jailed in late 2021. Carlson picked Stahnke up from jail the next day and drove her to Stahnke’s Denver home. The domestic violence charges against Stahnke were later dropped.

Oates rejected recommendations from his own Police Chief’s Review Board to discipline Carlson and instead promoted her to division chief, prompting accusations of favoritism.

Carlson recently announced her retirement from the department. Acevedo said the investigation into Stahnke’s behavior is still open, but “we should have a resolution pretty quick.”

Since his appointment as interim chief in December, Acevedo changed department policy to mandate that the internal affairs bureau launch investigations into officers charged with crimes as soon as those charges are filed, rather than after the cases are adjudicated, as was previous practice at the department.

Some community leaders say the lack of investigations and discipline in these and other cases sends a clear message to Aurorans.

“It’s bad enough that we have to be concerned about the actual criminals,” said Topazz McBride, a pastor at Restoration Christian Fellowship. “But if we can’t even feel safe around the people who are hired to protect us and keep us safe, then it’s a double jeopardy.”

In its review of Aurora PD’s discipline practices, the Sentinel found that Officer Joshua Perrott may have violated the department’s body-worn camera policy and the civil rights of a Black teenager during his involvement in the teen’s arrest.

Aurora officers responded to a suburban neighborhood Aug. 12, 2016, to investigate a call about a man with a gun and discovered a nearby house party instead.

Perrott arrived at the house as his colleagues spoke to a group of people standing outside. As the officers turned their attention to the party inside, Perrott turned off his body-worn camera, an apparent violation of department policy, which requires officers to keep their cameras on during all interactions with the public.

According to other officers’ body camera footage and police reports, Officer Troy Raines approached the house and ordered the party-goers outside. Among the group was a Black 17-year-old boy. As he walked outside, Raines ordered him to remove his hands from his pockets. The teen complied.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Raines shouted at him, footage of the incident shows. “Turn around and put your hands down by your side now! You want to get dumped?”

According to Raines’ police report, the teen then lowered his hands toward his waistband. With Perrott’s help, Raines grabbed the boy by the arm, threw him to the ground and handcuffed him.

The Sentinel has chosen not to identify the teen because he was a minor at the time.

Perrott reactivated his body camera shortly after the incident, several minutes after officers arrived at the house. Police body cameras capture 30 seconds of film preceding officers hitting record and Perrott’s camera still captured some of the incident. Raines also appears to have turned his camera off during the arrest.

They are not the only officers to stop recording in the midst of an interaction with the public.

A 2020 internal audit of the department’s body-worn camera system found that officers stopped recording in the middle of interactions with the public in nearly 60% of the videos reviewed. In more than three-quarters of those videos, officers did not say in the recordings why they were interrupting them, as required by department policy. A review of Perrott’s camera footage shows he did not state why he interrupted the recording.

The audit also found that 99% of body-worn camera videos were not reviewed by department supervisors, though 86% of supervisors reported in a survey that they reviewed their officers’ camera footage. A review of Perrott’s disciplinary records found no indication that a supervisor reviewed his camera footage from his run-in with the teen.

After Raines and Perrott arrested the teenager, he was charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly refusing to obey Raines’ orders. In his police report and sworn court testimony, Raines said it took the 17-year-old boy five to six minutes to exit the home after Raines ordered everyone out of the house.

“Our original call was a person with a gun,” Raines testified in court, according to courtroom transcripts. “Although his clothing didn’t match the initial description, given the timeframe between our arrival to him coming out…my concern and opinion is that it was plenty of time for someone to change their clothing.”

According to Raines’ body-worn camera footage, the teen exited the house approximately 30 seconds after Raines ordered everyone out.

Perrott and Raines declined interview requests via a department spokesperson.

A municipal court judge found the teen not guilty after ruling there was insufficient evidence to back the charge.

Before being tackled and arrested by the officers, the 17-year-old played high school football and had an active social life, the teen’s father said. Afterwards, his mental health declined.

“He just spiraled,” said his father, who the Sentinel chose not to identify in order to protect his son’s identity. “He would hide in his room.”

The teenager, now an adult, declined to comment on the case but gave his father and attorney permission to be interviewed for this story.

The teen’s family sued Raines, Perrott and the department for unlawful arrest and excessive force. The city settled the case for $51,500.

Still, the department never investigated Raines and Perrott’s use of force against the teen or their apparent manipulation of their body cameras. Neither officer was disciplined.

“A minimal amount of force was used to affect the arrest and there were no injuries,” department spokesperson Faith Goodrich wrote in an email. “Therefore, it did not fall under the use-of-force reporting structure at the time.”

Goodrich said the department’s use-of-force reporting procedures have since been restructured.

Perrott was sued again in 2021 for failing to intervene when another officer allegedly unlawfully arrested and used excessive force against an Aurora man. The city settled that case for $24,500. Perrott was never investigated or disciplined for his role in that case, either.

Like Longnecker, Perrott was disciplined only once while working for Aurora PD, when he carelessly handled and discharged a gun in 2016. He received a 10-hour unpaid suspension, department records show, which was subtracted from his annual paid leave.

Troy Raines has been sued on at least three previous occasions while an officer at the Boynton Beach Police Department in Florida for allegedly violating arrestees’ constitutional rights. In 2018, he was one of three Aurora officers who fatally shot Antonio Sanchez Jr., a suspect in a separate shooting, after Sanchez pointed a gun at police. The 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office ruled the shooting legally justified.

Raines has since been promoted to detective.

>>>>In The Blue series is produced by Sentinel staff journalists Max Levy, Philip Poston, Carina Julig and Kara Mason with investigative journalists in residence Brian Howey and Trey Bundy.

The post IN THE BLUE: No discipline for 2 Aurora cops after 4 lawsuits appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Supporters of the Aurora community light a candle at a memorial site across the street from Century 16 theater Sunday afternoon, July 22, near South Sable Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue. A gunman wearing a gas mask and body armor opened fire in a crowded Aurora movie theater with an assault rifle, shotgun and pistol during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” movie killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 50 others. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Sentinel Colorado and was shared via AP StoryShare. It was written by Max Levy. Levy works as a Sentinel staff writer.

By Max Levy, Sentinel Staff Writer

On the evening of July 19, 2012, Aurora’s Police Chief, Dan Oates, returned home to get some rest after a hockey game. Twenty minutes later, not long after midnight, he was woken up by a phone call from his deputy chief, Terry Jones. “It was the only sleep the cheif would get before responding to what Oates now calls “the most cataclysmic event of our professional lives.”

“Terry said, ‘There’s been a shooting at the mall, and it’s pretty serious,” said Oates, who left the police department in 2014 and returned earlier this year to serve as interim chief. “We were speculating that it was two gangsters shooting at each other. And I remember he said, ‘It sounds pretty chaotic over the radio. I’m heading over, and you’d better head over, too.’”

Located near the Town Center at Aurora mall, the Century 16 movie theater was hosting a midnight screening of the new Batman film that night, and Theater 9 was packed with as many as 400 eager moviegoers.

Oates arrived to a chaotic scene. An officer briefed him on the situation and delivered the grisly news: a dozen people had been fatally shot in Theater 9, and an unknown number were wounded. Police had begun rushing gunshot victims to the hospital in squad cars after ambulances were unable to reach the theater in the scramble.

Officers were also still searching for a second shooter, unaware that James Eagan Holmes, who had already been taken into custody, was the lone gunman.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates encourages continued support for the families of the massacre victims Tuesday afternoon, July 24 at the Bozarth Auto Dealership near South Havana Street and East Asbury Avenue. Ed Bozarth, his family, and partners donated three separate checks totaling $50,000 to the victims’ families, the Aurora Police Department and the Aurora Fire Department. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

“I was so shocked. I said, ‘You’ve got to give that to me again,’” Oates said. “I couldn’t process it. I think my brain couldn’t process what was going on initially.”

The number of wounded was eventually pegged at 70, including those injured by bullets and tear gas grenades fired by Holmes, as well as those hurt while trying to escape.

Oates called Jim Yacone, who was then in charge of the FBI’s Denver Division, to report what he feared could be an act of terrorism.

“I remember telling him, ‘Wake up everybody. We need every federal agent you can get here, because this is massive,’” Oates said. “We also knew that the suspect — I try never to use his name — but the suspect had told us about IEDs and his apartment being loaded with explosives.”

He also called George “Skip” Noe, at that time Aurora’s city manager, to tell him what was happening at Century 16; Noe said he would alert the city’s elected officials.

“And then it was hours of just managing the incident,” Oates said. “There’s a lot of that evening that’s a blur, still.”

For police and the more than 1,000 people who were in or near the theater when Holmes opened fire, the night was far from over. Faced with interviewing a massive group of potential witnesses, police arranged bus transportation to Gateway High School, which served as a reunification point for many families as well as the place where some learned of the tragic deaths of children, siblings and friends.

Oates spoke emotionally about driving to Gateway to meet Mike Hawkins, the Aurora officer who carried out the body of 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, who was shot along with her mother, Ashley Moser. Ashley survived; her unborn child and Veronica did not.

“I went to Gateway, not as the chief, but to find that officer,” Oates said. “I had this need to find this officer and just give him a hug. … It was the right thing to do.”

Detectives from the Aurora Police Department and the FBI interviewed hundreds of witnesses through the night and into the morning of the 20th.

The chief returned to police headquarters at around 5:30 a.m. At the time, he said the telephones of the department’s public information officers were unusable because of the volume of incoming calls from media outlets as far away as Sydney and Beijing.

That morning, bomb experts from the FBI, ATF and Adams County also began dismantling the jungle of complex explosive devices rigged inside of Holmes north Aurora apartment, which contained computers and other potential sources of evidence.

Oates described the team as “a wonderfully coordinated effort” and an example of one of the ways law enforcement worked to bring Holmes to justice and avert further harm — after two days of work, the group would successfully disarm Holmes’ apartment with no injuries and with minimal damage to the apartment itself.

Once Holmes’ Paris Street apartment building was evacuated, the mood turned from terror to grief, as the community of Aurora mourned the tremendous loss of life at Century 16. President Barack Obama met with survivors on July 22 and delivered a speech at University of Colorado Hospital, joined by Oates and elected officials.

That was 10 years ago. But for many of the people who were present or knew someone who was injured or killed in the Century 16 shooting, the events of July 20, 2012, can feel like yesterday.

“It just stays with you,” Oates said. “Everyone in this town knew somebody in that theater.”

Some elements of the Aurora police response, like the in-the-moment judgment to transport 27 victims using police cars when ambulances were unavailable, have been praised and, according to Oates, incorporated into the policies of police departments across the country.

A third-party review of the police department’s handling of the incident specifically notes that “if the police cars had not been used for rapid transport of seriously wounded victims, more likely would have died.”

Oates said the shooting also drew the department’s attention to the need to establish a unified command structure between police and firefighters if another event like the July 20 shooting was to take place.

Unfortunately, mass shootings have continued to claim lives in Colorado and across the nation — less than five months after the events in Aurora, another lone gunman killed 26 young children and school employees in Newtown, Connecticut.

“I felt that we were sort of climbing back to normal,” Oates said. “And then Sandy Hook happened, and I felt there was this collective depression here in the city to watch another community go through that horror.”

Oates said he was skeptical of the ability of gun control laws passed since 2012 to curb incidents like the Century 16 shooting, calling Colorado’s red flag law “only moderately helpful.”

While he said he believed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which lasted from 1994 to 2004, may have had an impact on mass shootings, he said he wasn’t sure if another similar ban would have the same effect today.

He remembered “seething” after being asked a question about gun control policy at the first press conference following the shooting.

“This horrific event had occurred to my community, and I was wondering why is it that the only people and the only time we ask about gun policy are police chiefs after mass shootings?,” he said. “Why weren’t we as a society facing up to that issue long long before?”

What he does know is that, during the worst night of many Aurorans’ lives, the city’s police acted professionally and with courage.

“Our cops performed superbly that night,” Oates said.

The post 10 YEARS — ‘It stays with you’: Aurora police chief looks back at response to theater shooting appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Update 9/9/2021: Revised to reflect Virgil Majors reached out to YS to inform us he is no longer on the Board for the APA.

Additionally, since publishing this article social media posts were removed. They will remain in the article to demonstrate this. 

APA Tax Return

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/475520793

Aurora Police Department decertifies the Aurora Police Association as the official union representing APD

Statement released by Aurora Police Association Board of Directors, Sept. 1, 2021, regarding the 32 indictments against 3 Aurora Police Officers and 2 Paramedics

The statement by the APA invoked shock and horror for many in the community. This organization is not affiliated with the City of Aurora or Aurora Police Department per the statement released in response to the APA’s.

The Aurora Police Association was founded as a social club in 1942 for police officers serving the Aurora, Colorado Police Department. As law enforcement changed over time, the APA expanded their services to protect officers and their families in contract negotiations with the City of Aurora, offering legal services, insurance benefits and a host of other programs for their members and the Aurora community.

The Aurora Police Association Charitable Foundation was founded to help Aurora police officers and their families during times of hardship. The foundation has grown to support scholarships for high school students entering law enforcement careers and the twice-annual Shop with a Cop program to provide back to school supplies and holiday gifts for Aurora children and their families. The Charitable Foundation fundraisers have supported scholarships for the children of Aurora Police Officers, aided the Aurora Police Explorers program and provided donations to Children’s Hospital of Colorado.

The Charitable Foundation provides financial assistance to our APA members, their families and other organizations throughout Aurora and our law enforcement community.

You should probably have them cease & desist or clarify. They claim to represent ALL of the APD with statements like "OUR officers did nothing wrong". How is the public supposed to trust you when your officers are sending mixed signals? Get your shit together @APDChiefWilson pic.twitter.com/le58C5CHx4

— Alex ? (@JoeyHighRollr) September 1, 2021

How many @AuroraPD officers are members of the @AuroraAPA ?

— AWanderingHippo (@AWanderingHippo) September 1, 2021

Aurora Police Association Board of Directors

The majority are currently employed at Aurora Police Department.

Bob Wesner APA President / Police Lieutenant / Public Safety Communications Director at Aurora Colorado Police Department

Gregg Gallozzi APA Vice President / Real Estate Broker at Cherry Creek Properties

Judy Lutkin APA Secretary / Aurora Police Officer

Machelle Williby APA Asst. Secretary / Brotherhood for the Fallen Aurora, Membership Secretary / Special Officer, Aurora Police Department

Lawsuit:

https://aclu-co.org/aclu-sues-aurora-police-ousting-black-man-hoodie-coffee-shop/

https://www.westword.com/news/omar-hassan-sues-two-aurora-police-officers-for-racial-profiling-at-caribou-coffee-9536563

Joe Cornell APA Trustee / Grievance Steward at Aurora Police Association / Police Academy Instructor / Officer Aurora Police Department

Virgil Majors APA Asst Treasurer / Community Relations Officer Aurora Police Department UPDATE: Mr Majors notified YS that he is no longer on the Board for APA.

Colorado city task force to study police, public interaction

The post Who are the Board of Directors of the Aurora Police Association? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Series opener, Graphic by De La Vaca for Yellow Scene Magazine. Original photo by Paul Wedlake Photography.

I started to get to know Candice Bailey, in a real way, after filming the Aurora I-225 Elijah McClain march on July 25th, 2020 – the one where the police left the exit ramp allowing a jeep to attempt to run over protestors.

I didn’t actually meet her at this event but saw her speak at a press conference following the July 2020 protest. The Aurora PD, perhaps up to their usual tricks, were claiming the march was violent and the jeep driver was defending himself. As a witness to the event, I was quite aware this was not the situation.

She addressed the Aurora PD and said, “I will not meet you with the same thing that you meet my community with.” She asserted that the Aurora PD was friends with the Jeep driver (with their track record it could very well be true as he was never charged). She demanded justice for Elijah McClain (to this day none of the officers involved have been charged, however, there are now 5 Federal and State investigations, none of which would have happened had it not been for the protests). She defended the behavior of the Actionists (a term she coined), and she called the City of Aurora out for telling people they could no longer gather on the grass at City Hall. Her words impacted me enough to transcribe them for print.

“I will not meet you with the same thing that you meet my community with.”

Photo by Paul Wedlake Photography

An Actionist, she says, is “Resistance against ALL things that oppress through intentional leadership and movement”. And that perspective, that organizing ideology driving her work is why Candice Bailey is a force. Speaking to her you might never know the background she has overcome to be where she is today – except she will be the first one to tell you about it. She describes herself as an Actionist because her work goes far beyond marching in the street.

She is an acting member of several commissions, including the Aurora Police Oversight Committee and the Budget Oversight Committee. She works on the State Domestic Violence and Child Welfare Task Force, helps youth in the community by supporting school supply events, feeds the homeless and underserved children, and she was the original Actionist for the McClains, often taking on the role of organizing events and publicly speaking for the family. She helped organize the Caravan for Racial Justice that brought the Breonna Taylor family and the Kentucky Actionists to Colorado, works to get legislation passed, is involved in criminal justice reform, organizes workshops and lectures, is a storyteller for JustUS a collaborative by Motus Theater, runs her own business doing family advocacy, court-services, and peer-run groups, and she has decided she wants to run for City Council – she just has to overcome the ex-felon hurdle the City of Aurora has in place.

Knowing all that Candice has overcome, including a “checkered past” that involved incarceration, I suspect we may very well see Ms. Bailey elected.

Bailey has received several threats, some anonymous, and some even from those in power. Police Union President Mark Sears (who had a civil suit with the City of Aurora after being fired as an officer) has accused her of trying to burn down the police department, among a list of other “made-up” things.

Candice speaks frankly, candidly, and honestly about any question I ask.

She spoke to how her father inspired her right before his death. “Before my dad died, he told me something really important,” she tells me. “He said, in life, you have two choices. He said, you know, we have this belief that we’re in control of everything, but life is really a rollercoaster ride, they throw you in a f*cking car with some other guy, you generally don’t know very well, you look at each other, you somehow get butterflies in your stomach at the beginning of the ride and think this is the greatest shit ever. And then the ride begins. On that ride, you cannot see how high the hill is, you don’t know when the bottoms gonna fall out, they didn’t give you a f*cking seat belt, and you only have one of two choices; you can either be the guy that buries their face in their hands for the entire ride and pisses their pants or you’re going to be the guy who put their hands in the air, and screams and enjoys every f*cking fall out every hill, every turn that breaks a rib. And I’ve just stuck with that. And I have lived so much life.”

This is reflected in everything she does. Candice’s arms are in the air and she is making the ride count. Which is why we decided to do our photoshoot on the grass at Aurora City Hall.

When I asked if she believes change is really possible, I get a resounding, “Hell Yeah, Otherwise what the hell are we doing”? 

The post Candice Bailey: Not an Activist – an Actionist | The ACTIONISTS Series appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

A constitutional crisis and civil unrest is taking place in America – amidst a pandemic, but it’s nothing new in our history.

As we witness America in crisis, from failing miserably at dealing with a pandemic, to a sitting President who believes it’s okay to send federal agents out to fire on American citizens exercising their 1st Amendment rights, it is becoming increasingly clear that we are facing a Constitutional Crisis. 

Since May hundreds of thousands of Americans have come out to protest racial injustice and police brutality. While the murder of George Floyd by police is not the only instance of police brutality, it appears to have been the catalyst to today’s unrest. 

The vast majority of protests have started peacefully. We spent the first few days in Denver covering what was taking place. As soon as the Denver Police Department was forced to stop firing at the crowds, the violence pretty much came to a stop. In Erie Colorado, 1,000 people marched against Racial Injustice and had the support of the police and town government-it was as peaceful as they come. While Portland has escalated, Denver was deescalating. (Of course, it took a restraining order to accomplish that.)

Denver was de-escalating, that is, until this weekend, when a Jeep attempted to run over protestors marching for Elijah McClain in Aurora. The Aurora Police Department not only did not arrest the driver but left their post blocking the ramp to the highway, just minutes before the Jeep entered as the marchers were passing that ramp. Prior to this Aurora Police Department had been blocking the freeway from cars entering. 

Unfortunately, police departments across the country have chosen to respond to citizens peacefully assembling with violence. In the places where police departments either chose to respond peacefully or changed their tactics to peaceful response, protests remained calm. When police advanced with aggression, protests escalated. 

Aurora is no exception. From the killing of Elijah McClain to officers mocking his death by posing in photos to the fact Aurora Police Department has found no wrongdoing by officers in his death Aurora PD seems to have a litany of troubling circumstances throughout its history, including officers found drunk on duty passed out in their cars, a doctor being harassed at his office (that he owns), and ultimately the killing of more than one POC. 

Interim Police Chief, Vanessa Wilson, appears to be more of the same. Generally armed with excuses for the problems the community has experienced at the hands of Aurora Police Department, she has even gone so far as to claim a badly taken photo of an Antifa flag (that no other video of the event seemed to have captured) was cause for firing on a peaceful assembly with children playing the violin in honor of Elijah McClain. Even IF, there was an Antifa flag at the rally, it was peaceful, why would the Aurora Police Department need to fire on a violin vigil with children?

Many involved are aware that much of the disruption has been instigated by provocateurs, oftentimes right-wing extremists intent on disrupting the peaceful nature of the protests or by the police themselves. This was evident in Minneapolis and has been true in Portland. When the Portland protests started there were less than 400 people on the street. Today it has grown to over 10,000. In large part, thanks to Donald Trump sending in federal agents to shoot at and kidnap protestors using the same federal agents who have been terrorizing migrants fleeing brutal dictators. 

The Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of force by the federal government against citizens of the United States. That doesn’t seem to have stopped this administration.

And in Aurora, it appears that may very well be true. 

No arrests have been made of the driver who sped onto the highway to run down 1000 protestors. Mayor Mike Coffman criticized not protecting the police station but had little to say about protecting those marching.

The organizers of Saturday’s event asked many of the questions we are, regarding why the driver of the Jeep was not only not arrested, but greeted with smiles by the Aurora Police Department.

While the Jeep driver has stated that he was scared because protestors had surrounded his car, there are no videos showing this, and in fact, the police had the road closed just minutes before he entered. Additionally, he was speeding up-not slowing down as he approached the marchers. In fact, the only thing that slowed the Jeep down was truck driver Sebastian Sassi, who was part of the March, pivoting his vehicle into the Jeep.

Community Leader Candace Bailey in the Press Statement made on July 27th.

“ There is a narrative in our environment right now that is dangerous within our community.

 

There is a narrative that FPRA and PSL are violent, that we are not safe in our community, that we are having destructive behaviors. The behaviors that were displayed at Saturday’s events were not reflective of PSL, nor FPRA. The Frontline Party for Revolutionary Action does not have violent events. You can look back in time. We have organized with the city of Aurora. Blackout 2020 on June 6 was held on the municipal lawn, with the city of Aurora, and Claudine McDonald who coorganized and financially sponsored that event. There was zero violence. 

I will not meet you with the same thing that you meet my community with. 

But what was orchestrated on Saturday and I do mean orchestrated. There are eyewitness accounts that watched this vehicle, enter, when the police had supposedly barricaded the entrances. There is not a question who barricaded and who let someone in. We didn’t barricade the highway. We did not do that. We know that our citizens in the community of Aurora support us in these acts. This is not frivolous, we are not out here, causing harm to the citizens of the city of Aurora. Not at all. Not at all. We have been peaceful. We are concerned about every one of our community members. We are not leaving a single community member uncounted. a matter of fact, we actually had an event here, Feed the Homeless Youth from 10-2 on Saturday morning, before we went and demonstrated what a democracy looks like. 

Because there has been zero justice for the murder of Elijah McClain. There was a firing after a picture was released. There wasn’t a firing when Elijah McClain was murdered. 

So all these diversions that are happening. Why would this driver be met by the police off the 6th ramp. Well, we’ve got Bob here, Bob and them just pulled up. They got out. They shook hands. That’s your friend – that is your comrade.

We have pictures of the driver of the Jeep, smiling, as he goes down the highway at 70 miles an hour. That is 1000 counts of attempted vehicular homicide. That is 1000 counts of attempted vehicular homicide. 

But instead of that, they got a handshake when they were greeted by their friends at APD, then their vehicle was taken into the parking lot where they gave a thumbs up, a thumbs up to the camera people who were there. Then they were given a ride home by the APD while their vehicle was put on a tow truck. You help me to understand how vehicular homicide turns into a ride home?

Oh, but don’t forget, this is a APD, they gave the Aurora theater shooter Burger King. They murder in the name of protecting and serving, I highly doubt that.  

You can attempt to turn this any way you want, but we will continue in fighting for Elijah McClain and for justice for him. 

We are not here damaging our community. We are supporting that community in ways that the city and Aurora police never have and never will. We are not dependent on them to support our community.  We come out here we know the people. Those who are houseless that actually occupy this space; we feed them, we clothe them, we just provided them with showers. We are trying to help them get housing within our community. So that this madness stops that cannot be brutalized in our city. 

This is our city. That grass was cut off. We were told that isn’t our grass. I am sorry, Aurora, we pay that bill. That is our grass and this is our city and we do not approve of the brutality that was orchestrated. 

Vanessa Wilson made a statement apparently that said she had never heard from the organizers of the rally. Well, it’s not my responsibility to call Vanessa Wilson, when she sees it she’s watching me. I’m sure she could call me because she has my personal cell phone number. So, lets stop the excuses, lets stop the games. The Aurora Police Department allowed the Jeep to come into us and attempt to murder us. There were murderous intentions. He does not slow down, He, in fact, speeds up. He speeds up. 

There are no questions. We are here to make a statement period. Just like APD, you will not be asking us questions. If you have questions, you may go to Amplify the Voice. There is a video that you will see that is a real depiction of what has happened.

And that is my suggestion to you.

We are giving you the opportunity to hear our narrative and to stop being a pawn in this game because you are you are on the highway as well as media, and they did not have any regard for your lives either. And so we stand together, we will continually be mowed down. You have been shot with rubber bullets. 

Now, we gave you the opportunity to hear our statement because we have a voice in this community and that is why you are here, you have questions I suggest you ask the APD why they attempted to murder over 1000 people on Saturday. Thank you for coming.”

Regardless of the wisdom, of the protestor shooting a gun at the Jeep speeding at the crowd of protestors, the intent was self-defense. The intent was to protect others. The intent of the Jeep driver by all accounts appears to have been to run over the crowd. A crime that the Aurora Police Department has not yet charged the Jeep driver with, but Elijah McClain is murdered while walking down the street, doing nothing but coming home from the store. 

While the officers who participated in Elijah McClain’s death are free to live their lives without consequence, those protesting the actions by Aurora Police Department are having those same officers charge them. 

Throughout history, there have been Americans who took to the streets to fight for justice and change, and throughout history have been met with brutality for advocating change for a more just America. 

In modern history, the Boston Tea Party is hailed as a great achievement by those rebel Americans. At the time the British called them terrorists. 

From there we had the Revolutionary War and in the famous words of Thomas Jefferson;

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”

• The Civil War, America’s most deadly war, had brother killing brother. While most of us understand that historically it did not stem from fighting for the rights of enslaved humans, that is where it ended. 

• The Women’s Suffrage Movement also experienced extreme violence with women often being beaten by the police and spectators. It took the Suffragettes over 60 years to obtain the right to vote. 

• The Labor Movement in America was met with Union Busters who violently attacked strikers demanding a living wage and safe work conditions. 

• In 1968 Martin Luther King was shot and killed for the Civil Rights Movement he had helped lead for almost two decades. Just a few years after Malcolm X became a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement, he too was shot and killed. 

• In 1969 members of the LGBTQ community were violently attacked for asking for the mere right to exist openly at the Stonewall Riots.  

• In 1970, students of Kent State University who were peacefully protesting the US’ expanded involvement in the Vietnam War were attacked and killed by Ohio National Guardsmen.

It might be funny to cheer on violence toward protestors but throughout American history, those who have fought for a more just nation, have advanced this country in ways that are now acknowledged as advancing humanity. 

At a time when the sitting POTUS’ ratings are dropping to an all-time low, it appears Donald Trump (or his Advisors) are pushing to escalate the violence at these protests by dispatching unmarked federal agents of the DHS, who have been kidnapping and attacking peaceful people, in order to turn public sentiment against the people protesting. 

We know he is not above misusing active-duty troops to stop a nonexistent caravan of migrants for political points, and locking children in cages was done all too easily.

What makes us think he would defer to the Constitution now-just months before the Election?

Donald Trump suggests delay to 2020 US presidential election

Understanding Trump’s game plan in Portland could be the key to preventing a coup in November

Thanks to Off-Meta Media  for their coverage as well, in Portland, Denver, and Aurora. 

The post Is Aurora Police Department showing its colors (again)? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Image by Chelsea Campbell for Yellow Scene Magazine

Month in Review

A month of openings – gyms, bars, strip clubs, restaurants – even at half capacity was cut off. Governor Polis announced a re-closing of bars and clubs to stem the current rise in COVID-19 cases across Colorado. This last week saw us return to nearly our peak infection rate. Boulder County – looking at Boulder, Longmont, Lafayette, Louisville, Superior, and Erie – has seen 143 new cases since June 23rd, as of July 2nd. • Local elections have concluded, although results aren’t all official. For local races we were watching, we saw Dan Woog handily making state house, Callie Rennison easily knocking off her competition for CU Regent, and Longmont Strong Marta Loachamin narrowly edging Jonathan Singer for Boulder County Commissioner District 2. She’ll face James Crowder in November. • Boulder County Parks has issued a statement on COVID rules, reminding revelers to follow the social distancing and mask requirements or be asked to leave. This includes Boulder County Open Space. • The Aurora PD faced intense scrutiny as Justice for Elijah McClain protests were poorly handled. In addition to using chemical weapons, pepper balls (as witnessed by Yellow Scene staff), and threatening people with rubber bullets at an unsafe distance, 3 officers were fired for reenacting the carotid chokehold that resulted in the unnecessary death of McClain. • The Fourth of July Independence Day celebrations were stifled by order of the Governor, necessary to prevent mass gatherings. In its place, Kyle Clark reported that he’d never seen anything like this”, in terms of citizen use of fireworks across the city. From our offices in Erie we can report the same. These celebrations capped off 24 hours of Elijah McClain protests at APD headquarters and a divisive speech by the President at Mt. Rushmore, where Native Americans on their own legal land were arrested for attempting to deny Trump access. • The “I Have A Dream” Foundation hired a new CEO. The Daily Camera reports that Perla Delgado, most recently the College Assistance Migrant Program director in Austin, TX, wants to continue to support Dreamers on their way to college.  The migrant program provides students and their families a pathway out of poverty through education. •  Nearly 400 people participated in Out Boulder County’s first motorcade parade. An alternative to the traditional parade due to the Coronavirus, 150 cars participated in cruising down Main street in Longmont. Mardi Moore, Out BC’s Executive Director is quoted as saying, “We finally have a place in the law that recognizes sexual orientation and gender identity as equal in employment, which, as far-fetched as that seems, we have never had before. We think this has legs, but we also think it will be a long time before we have full equal rights,” referencing the SCOTUS decision affirming LGBT workplace protections.

Small Talk

“We have received countless messages over the past few days from officers in Colorado. Many have asked for resources finding police jobs out of Colorado – many others have said they plan on leaving the field altogether.”

– Law Enforcement Today, on the CO Police exodus following the passing of SB 217

“The governor said that the state’s rise in coronavirus cases has mostly been among younger people.”

– Colorado Sun reporting, with the caveat that bars, clubs, and possible protests were the main culprits

“I am no longer affiliated with the University of Colorado.”

– Philip Graves, former CU Boulder Economic professor, after the fallout from racist and secist messages posted to Facebook

“Everyone should feel welcome and safe when recreating on open space, especially our most vulnerable residents. It’s such an important resource for mental and physical health in these challenging times.”

– Eric Lane, Director of Boulder County Parks and Open Space

“I know the media has a job to do. They chose to be in that situation with us.”

– Vanessa Wilson, Interim Police Chief, Aurora Police Department, when asked why journalists were targeted and hit

By the Numbers

148 – New Cases of Coronavirus in Boulder County since June 23, counting totals reported by the Daily Camera.

72/1246 – Deaths per COVID-19 cases in Boulder County since the pandemic began. Recent new cases are a sharp increase

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21% – increase in voter turnout comparing the 2020 primary to last year

150 – fabulously filled CARS  in the Out Boulder County LGBT Motorcade parade

3 – The Number of Colorado reservoirs we visited for our travel article, though we definitely thought of visiting more.

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