On January 2, 2006, undercover detectives-in-training working for the Denver Police Department sped through an a 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.

ACLU case number

2006-09

Attorney(s)

N. Reid Neureiter; Elizabeth Harris; Mark Silverstein, ACLU of Colorado Legal Director; Taylor Pendergrass, ACLU of Colorado Staff Attorney

Case number

2006-cr-84, Denver District Court