ACLU Sues for Release of Police Investigation
of Officers Accused of Manhandling Gil Webb
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 1997
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (ACLU) filed suit today under the Colorado Open Records Act, seeking disclosure of the Denver Police Department’s internal investigation of the events that occurred on March 26, 1997, when police arrested Gil Webb for auto theft and vehicular homicide at the scene of the crash that killed Officer Ronald DeHerrera.
A storm of controversy erupted last spring after Channel 2 broadcast video footage showing a police officer kicking at Webb while paramedics picked him up by the hair and slammed him onto a gurney. Webb was subsequently hospitalized with a broken neck, and his attorney, Anne Sulton, charged that police and paramedics were responsible for the injuries.
Denver Police Chief Michaud immediately promised a thorough internal investigation. Denver Health Medical Center reviewed the paramedics’ performance, while the Justice Department investigated whether Webb’s treatment violated civil rights laws. District Attorney William Ritter arranged for a special prosecutor, Jefferson County D.A. David Thomas, to evaluate possible criminal charges.
Although Thomas declined to file charges, the hospital fired one paramedic and disciplined another. Chief Michaud later announced that two police officers had been disciplined. A jury convicted Webb of vehicular homicide on August 30, after a five-day trial.
The ACLU’s lawsuit under the Open Records Act seeks disclosure of the videotape that spawned the initial controversy, the police department’s enhanced version of the video, interviews with witnesses, and other documents related to the police department’s internal investigation.
Despite several requests from the ACLU, the Denver police have continually refused to release information about the investigation, according to ACLU Legal Director Mark Silverstein. "The police have even refused to release a copy of the Channel 2 videotape that has already been broadcast to the public," Silverstein said. "The only reason offered by the police is that disclosure would be ‘contrary to the public interest.’"
"The police department has it backwards," Silverstein said. "Disclosure is in the public interest."
"When police launched their internal investigation last spring, Mayor Webb declared that as much information as possible would be shared with the public," Silverstein said. "The public has been skeptical of the police department’s ability to investigate itself. As Mayor Webb explained last spring, the more information that is released, the more credibility the police investigation will have with the public. Unfortunately, the Denver Police Department has not delivered on Mayor Webb’s promise of full disclosure."
"When Chief Michaud began the investigation," Silverstein continued, "he said he would investigate not only the conduct depicted on the videotape but also the failure of other officers to report what they had seen. At the time, Chief Michaud acknowledged that Denver patrol officers operate under a ‘Code of Silence’ that functions to cover up the misconduct of fellow officers. The public has a right to know what Chief Michaud found in his investigation and the reasons that discipline was either imposed or not imposed."
Earlier this year, the ACLU filed a similar lawsuit seeking disclosure of the Denver Police Department’s internal investigation into allegations that police used excessive force and racial epithets in 1996, when 70 baton-swinging officers responded to a report of a one-on-one fistfight at a 1996 dance sponsored by an African-American organization at Thomas Jefferson High School. After a hearing, Judge Paul Markson ordered the police department to turn over all but 63 pages of its 1000-page investigation.
The lawsuit announced today, "ACLU v. City and County of Denver", was filed in Denver District Court by Tom Kelley and Steve Zansberg of Faegre and Benson, who are serving as volunteer cooperating attorneys for the ACLU.