People v. Rudy Gallegos

On January 2, 2006, undercover detectives-in-training working for the Denver Police Department sped through an alley, stopped their car, got out, and opened fire on two unarmed men who had been walking home from a bar. One of the two unarmed men was wounded, and the wildly fired police bullets also sprayed a church window and a passing RTD bus.

The police claimed that they fired their weapons because they believed that the unarmed men were threatening them with a gun. When no gun was found, the police charged Rudy Gallegos with two felony counts of “menacing,” for allegedly holding his cell phone in a manner that caused the plainclothes police officers to believe that Mr. Gallegos was pointing a gun. ACLU attorneys are defending Mr. Gallegos in the criminal case.