DPD officer caught on video pushing man onto stairs, appealing suspension

A Denver police officer caught on video shoving a man onto stairs is appealing his 30-day suspension.

Officer Choice Johnson said nothing Wednesday as he left the second day of a Civil Service hearing into the incident at a LoDo bar last year.

But his victim, Brandon Schreiber and his attorney both spoke.

“I’m shocked the city would even question it, that he wouldn’t just kind of own it and say I made a big mistake and I need to learn from this,” Schreiber said.

Johnson has remained unapologetic for the incident that happened on the night of July 26, 2014 at the 1UP Bar, located at 1925 Blake Street.

Johnson was working off-duty in uniform providing security at the bar when cameras caught him violently shove Schreiber, who had his hands in his pockets.  Records show Johnson first lied and said Schreiber lunged at him, before video from a nearby city-owned security camera exposed the truth.

“This is just status quo for the Denver Police Department. They fail to discipline their officers and when they do discipline, the officers appeal and are usually successful in those appeals,” said Siddhartha Rathod, Schreiber’s attorney.

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