Denver police monitor says two should have faced harsher penalty - The Denver Post
Denver police monitor says two should have faced harsher penalty - The Denver Post
A police officer and a Denver Sheriff Department captain who were both suspended for lying should have received stiffer penalties, the city's police monitor said in a report Thursday.
In the first case, though independent monitor Richard Rosenthal didn't name the officer in his quarterly report, the details appear to match the case of Officer Eric Sellers, who was suspended from his job for 40 days for what Rosenthal said was an unwarranted attack on a firefighter.
Sellers should have been terminated, Rosenthal said, but if kept on the force, he should be restricted from any position in which he would interact with the public.
In the second case — without naming her — Rosenthal found that a 70-day suspension without pay given to sheriff's Capt. Cheryl Arabalo was unreasonable.
Arabalo should have been busted down to deputy because she filed a false report about the way deputies at the county jail were conducting "rounds" to check on inmates, Rosenthal said.
"The monitor is concerned that by allowing the subject officer to remain in a command position, the department sends the wrong message about the importance of honesty and integrity in relationship to leadership positions," Rosenthal said in his quarterly report.
On Dec. 28, 2009, Sellers was working off-duty but in uniform at a Lower Downtown bar when volunteer Brighton firefighter Jared Lunn complained to him that a man punched him in the face and threw his pizza to the ground.
Sellers accused him of being drunk and when Lunn made a sarcastic comment, Sellers put him in a chokehold, wrestled him to the ground, handcuffed and berated him, according to the report.
Former Safety Manager Ron Perea imposed a 45-day suspension on Sellers, who was found to have lied about the use of excessive force, and allowed him to serve a second 10-day suspension concurrently, saying he declined to fire the officer though the presumptive penalty for lying is termination.
Rosenthal recommended that Chief Gerald Whitman assign Sellers to a non-patrol position where he won't have contact with the public, be forbidden to work "off-duty" in uniform, and be assigned to a position where there would be no need for either the district attorney or the city attorney to use his testimony in future cases.
Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said Thursday that Sellers is already working a non-line assignment that doesn't require him to patrol the streets. As for the other recommendations, Jackson said the chief would follow the ordinance that created the independent-monitor position, indicating that the department is not bound by Rosenthal's opinions.
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