An attorney retained by the city of Ouray has released a less-redacted version of a use-of-force complaint against the Ouray Police Department, filed in a case involving a teenager last year.
The Plaindealer obtained the initial 10-page citizen complaint in March, which was heavily redacted. At the time, city officials cited a law concerning juvenile court cases where the offenders completed diversion programs, which allows those cases to be expunged from the court system. The teenager was charged with obstruction and assault, and was accused of pushing another juvenile down during a concert in the park.
The city said anyone connected to the juvenile’s arrest and details of the complaint and the investigation must not be released because of laws protecting juveniles in the criminal justice system, and the fact that the juvenile court records were destroyed.
“No one gets any information regarding a case that is expunged. It is as if the case never existed,” a city official responded.
An attorney representing the Plaindealer, Steve Zansberg, pushed for the records to be released with fewer redactions. He argued the expungement of the juvenile court records had no bearing on the situation, and said Colorado’s new laws requiring disclosure of completed internal affairs investigation files after a complaint concerning officer interactions with the public must be disclosed, with limited redactions. Those limited redactions include only “any identifying information related to a juvenile,” according to state law.
“One need only peruse a small portion of the redactions at issue to demonstrate their overbreadth, to the point of rendering the underlying narrative incomprehensible,” Zansberg wrote in a letter to the city on May 30.
The city retained Nicholas Poppe, a Denver attorney who specializes in representing governments in civil rights lawsuits. After months of back and forth communication, Poppe released the less-redacted version of the complaint on July 23, after releasing a less-redacted version of the investigation report on July 3. The investigation report was completed by Municipal Police Consultants’ owner Paul Schultz.
The less-redacted documents show the city blacked out information about a series of events the night a 14-year-old boy was arrested by police. Those redactions include:
• Names of police officers involved, including former Chief Jeff Wood, Sgt. Gary Ray (now the interim chief), and Officer Casey Canfield.
• Allegations that Canfield tackled the teenager, causing him to hurt his ankle, as the teenager was attempting to follow directions and did not realize he was being detained or arrested. The complaint alleged Canfield and Ray said the teenager tripped on a car tire, which the investigator said he did not see happen when reviewing available body camera footage. The complainant alleged the car was approximately 10 feet away. Canfield did not have his body camera activated during this incident. “He was tackled so hard his shoe came off,” the complaint said.
• Allegations that Ray and Canfield “blatantly lied” that the teen tripped on the car tire. The complainant asks for them to be held accountable for their lack of honesty and have “Brady letters” issued. This type of documentation makes it impossible for law enforcement officers to testify in court.
• Allegations that Canfield yelled, “Why did you make me do that. I did not want it to go down that way. Why did you make me do that,” as he held the teenager face-down on the ground. “If he really believed that (he) tripped, why would Officer Canfield continue to say, ‘I did not want it to go down that way and why did you make me do that,’ ” the complaint said.
• Allegations that the police department did not charge another juvenile in the incident because it would be uncomfortable for them. It’s not clear exactly how the juvenile is connected to the department, but the incident involved allegations that another unnamed teen had used racial slurs against others, prior to a kid punching another kid and another juvenile pushing someone down.
• A combative conversation between the complainant and Deputy District Attorney Jessica Waggoner (who the city’s contract attorney, Carol Viner, told Schultz he could not interview for the investigation, according to Schultz). Waggoner is accused of threatening the complainant with more charges for the juvenile if he questioned what he was being charged with. The complainant asked for the district attorney’s office to hold her accountable and provide customer service training.
• The complainant said Wood told him, “These people need to suck it up and learn to live in society instead of us having to adjust our training to them.” It’s not clear what “these people” means, but the complaint ends with a request for the police department to receive “professional training and possibly a change in protocols in de-escalation, interviewing (including minors), body camera laws, and dealing with special needs and mental health subjects.”
In his report, Schultz said Canfield and Ray’s use of force was appropriate, and that an “arm-bar” technique to take down the juvenile was correct. Schultz also commended the officers, saying the investigation “was extremely well done and well documented especially considering this is a case involving several young juveniles.”
The city paid Schultz $6,234 to complete the investigation.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE LESS-REDACTED COMPLAINTS COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUSLY REDACTED COMPLAINTS
