The people of Denver should not have to pay the price for a bureaucrat who failed to do his job.
Ron Perea’s failure to fire Officers Murr and Sparks for their brutal beating of Michael DeHerrera and their despicable cover-up of the assault rightly cost Perea his job. Both officers received nothing more than slaps on the wrist and were permitted to continue terrorizing the people of Denver. This wasn’t an isolated incident- just three months earlier; Officer Murr was one of a trio of officers who beat Community College of Denver student Alex Landau so badly that the city ended up settling for nearly $800,000.
Denver took a step backward today.
There is a time for process, for paperwork and for following regulations, but when the consequences of years of tangled red tape literally puts residents at risk of losing life and limb, then leadership and principles must prevail.
If these two officers will once again patrol the streets of Denver, their reinstatement is more than an insult to the residents of our city; it is a threat. We welcome Interim Manager of Safety Ashley Kilroy’s disagreement with the Civil Service Commission, and we look forward to the City Attorney’s appeal of this decision. But no matter how this bureaucratic process plays out, we call upon Mayor Michael Hancock to exercise the leadership he promised us and restore our faith in Denver law enforcement by keeping these brutes off the street.
