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Denver Police Shooting Video Shows Cops Committed Crimes, Attorney Says

On August 17, the Denver Police Department released videos of the officer-involved shooting near 20th and Larimer streets on July 17 in which suspect Jordan Waddy and six innocent bystanders were injured, and the office of Denver District Attorney Beth McCann announced that a grand jury would be asked to review the case.
Attorney Tyrone Glover of Tyrone Glover Law, who represents Waddy in a civil-rights context, sees this last step as unnecessary. “The DA could look at the tape and bring charges,” he says in reference to the videos, which he compiled into a clip that plainly shows Waddy tossed his gun aside and was unarmed when an officer opened fire. “If they want to utilize the grand jury process, that’s within their purview.” Glover says that he’s “cautiously optimistic” that criminal indictments will result from the grand jury’s investigation, but adds: “We’ve seen what happens when these kinds of things involve officers. They don’t always come back fair.”
A statement from Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, the Denver-based firm that represents three of the wounded bystanders — Bailey Alexander, Willis Small IV and Yekalo Weldehiwet — is even more blunt. “DA McCann must ensure this case does not follow the pattern of grand jury investigations being used to exonerate and legitimize officer misconduct,” it says. “Denver’s officers must be indicted and tried for their extremely reckless acts of violence.”

As noted by Commander Matt Clark of the DPD’s major crimes division during a July 20 press conference, officers in the area of the Larimer Beer Hall, 2012 Larimer Street, noticed an altercation between an unarmed man and Waddy, who appeared to have a weapon, at around 1:30 a.m. on July 17, during the period known as let-out. Clark said the cops flickered their flashlights and announced their presence in an attempt to calm the situation. At that point, Waddy allegedly walked through a crowd gathered around a food truck, and when he passed between the far end of the vehicle and a parked car, he was ordered to stop. “He was clearly away from the crowd, and the street was closed due to the out-crowd, so no traffic was in jeopardy,” Clark stressed.

Read the article in its entirety at www.westword.com