Lawyer accuses Denver cops of lying to protect themselves

The Denver Post

Ex-Denver police officer Charles Porter, who was fired for stomping a 16 year-old boy, said Monday that he didn't know how the teen was hurt and that he told another cop to report any force used in the arrest.
Nathan Chambers, Porter's lawyer, said that the second officer, Cameron Moerman, and another, Luis Rivera, lied when they blamed Porter for beating the teen.
Porter, 44, appeared before a three-member Civil Service hearing panel to appeal his termination by former Safety Manager Al LaCabe.
LaCabe fired all three of the officers in 2010, believing they all beat Juan Vasquez after a foot chase through a north Denver alley in April, 2008.
A jury acquitted Porter, who was the only one charged with a crime in the incident. Denver paid Vasquez, whose kidneys and liver were damaged, $885,000 to settle a civil suit in the case.
Vasquez, who had been drinking, ran when Moerman and another officer pulled to the curb nearby.
Porter testified that he fell behind his partners in the chase and that by the time he caught up with Vasquez, the teen was handcuffed and laying on his stomach. The boy was complaining that he couldn't breathe.