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Posted on
10/07/2010 11:21 AM EST
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My struggle for justice continues for my son
Editor’s Note: The following is a letter sent to Denver Police Chief Gerald Whitman on January 4, 2010, written by Pueblo County Deputy Sheriff, R. Anthony DeHerrera, whose son, Michael DeHererra and his friend, Shawn Jackson were victims of police brutality on April 4, 2009 2009. As of our print deadline, the Chief has not responded to Mr. DeHerrera. |
R. Anthony DeHerrera
I am writing you this letter hoping you do get it and read it. I am a Master Deputy with the Pueblo County Sheriffs Office in Pueblo Colorado, I have been a street officer for 21 years now and have been on SWAT for 14½ years, recently retired from SWAT. The reason I am writing to you is in reference to my son Michael DeHerrera.
On 04-04-09 at 12:17am, I received the call no parent would want to hear. My son Michael called and was screaming in the phone “they are beating Shawn up.” Shawn is my son’s friend, Michael kept saying this and I told him to calm down and asked who was beating Shawn up. At this point, I did not know where Michael and Shawn were or what was happening; all I knew was my son needed me. I then heard sirens, so I felt a little relieved thinking whichever law enforcement agency was showing up, they would help him. While still on the phone with Michael, I heard a male voice state “drop the phone motherf*****r” and then I heard a THUD, I knew Michael had been hit. I started yelling Michael’s name into the phone, but he would not answer and I could hear voices in the background but none by Michael. At this point my wife ran to the kitchen and got on the other land line connection to hear what was going on because she heard me screaming Michael’s name. I then heard a voice say “don’t ever try and hit a cop motherf****r” -- so I was thinking there was a disturbance either in a bar or a house. I still kept calling Michael’s name trying to get him to respond, no answer from him but I kept hearing thuds and I thought Michael was getting hit. My wife got our cellular phone and tried calling Shawn’s phone, we could hear it ringing in the background, and we knew it was Shawn’s phone because he has a distinctive ring, but Shawn did not answer either. We then heard a male voice state, “we have to get rid of this phone, they’ve been recording us” then the phone went dead. At this point I thought Michael was dead and whoever killed him was getting rid of evidence.
We kept trying to call Michael and Shawn on their phones, but when it would go straight to voice mail, I knew something had happened to the phones. I then called my communications center and asked them to transfer me to the DPD dispatch center to see if they were handling anything like what sounded was happening with Michael and Shawn.
I was advised there were not any disturbances happening at this time either at a bar or a residence and they did not have officers out with Michael or Shawn. I then called all the surrounding law enforcement agencies around the Denver metro area and asked the same questions regarding Michael; they all said they did not have any officers out with Michael either.
At this time my wife and I then started driving to Denver in a snowstorm to try and find Michael, because I had a really bad feeling he was either dead or hurt real bad. Michael is very good son and has never been in trouble in his whole life, he has never been in any physical confrontations; the only trouble he has been in is speeding tickets.
While driving to Denver I had my communications center run a ping trace on Michael’s cellular phone, hoping to find an area where he last was. Communications advised me the last signal from Michaels phone was in the area of 1445 Market Plaza in downtown Denver. I then asked them to connect me to DPD dispatch again, they did and DPD dispatch still told me they did not have any disturbances and they did not have officers out with Michael. I then talked with my communications again and asked them to do a QQ search to see if any law enforcement had run Michael’s name, they stated DPD ran him at 1:07am so I had them transfer me to DPD dispatch again. DPD dispatch still told me they did not run Michael and they had no officers out with Michael.
I then spoke with my communication center again and told them what DPD was telling me, they told me a DPD Officer named Jaramillo had run Michael’s name at 1:07am and they would call DPD dispatch. My communications center called me back after speaking with DPD dispatch and stated they were very rude to them and said they could not keep track of all their officers, but they were trying to get in touch with this Officer Jaramillo to see what was happening.
While still driving to Denver, my wife called family members in Denver and told them to go to the area where Michaels’s cellular phone last registered, and try to find Michael.
When we were around the Castle Rock area communication called me back and said they found out Michael had been arrested for interference and he was at the hospital. At that time, I knew DPD was in fact the ones I heard beating Michael up.
Communications said they could connect me on the phone with this Officer Jaramillo from DPD, so I told them to connect me. Officer Jaramillo talked to me on the phone and told me I did not have to come to Denver, it was no big deal, Shawn was involved in a bar altercation and while in the process of Shawn being arrested Michael interfered and he was being cited for interference only and he is currently at Denver Health Hospital being treated for some “road rash to his nose” but he is fine and again stressed I did not need to come to Denver. I then knew DPD Officers had beat Michael up really bad. I advised Officer Jaramillo I was in Castle Rock already and I would be there shortly, he became nervous and stated he wasn’t the one that charged Michael; an Officer Sparks did and I should talk to him.
Once we arrived at the hospital, we were not allowed to see Michael or communicate with him in any way, they just stated we should go wait at the jail because that’s where he would be going at some point. While at the hospital, I was able to talk with an Officer Sparks by telephone and he basically told me the same thing as Officer Jaramillo did; and again stated it was no big deal Michael could pay a fine and everything was okay.
We then went to the jail as we were getting nowhere with anyone at the hospital. When I first walked up to the officer working the front desk I did not identify myself at all, I told him I was there for Michael DeHerrera and I needed to know if he was here yet. The officer stated, “oh you’re the cop from Pueblo” and then told me Michael was not at this location yet.
After speaking with this officer, I knew the word of me being a cop was out and the cover up was beginning. I then called Inspector Proud from my department’s Internal Affairs and advised him what was happening. I was instructed to go file a report at District 6’s office, so we went to their office. Once at this location, I told the male at the desk why we were there and it seemed like he knew what was going on already. He spoke out of the way with another officer and then I was told we would have to wait until roll call was over to talk with someone. We waited 45 minutes, then two Sergeants came out to the hallway and met with my wife and me. They did not give their names at first, and I told them I was there to file a complaint about Michael’s incident. One Sergeant did all the talking and was very rude and would not listen to what we were telling him, he kept telling my wife, “if you talk again this conversation is over.” This Sergeant stated he would not take my complaint, if I wanted to file a complaint I would have to do so on Monday with Internal Affairs. This Sergeant then informed me that Michael was now being charged with resisting arrest. I knew again they had probably beat Michael up pretty bad if they were changing charges now to cover up the beating. I then asked why their dispatch center kept telling me they did not have officers out with Michael, this Sergeant told me when there is disturbances in the bars “we don’t call them in, we just handle it” to me that meant they just beat the people up and send them on their way. This Sergeant also told us Michael was the one that tried to punch an off duty cop twice, I told him if Michael did what they were saying, why was Michael calling me on the phone for help because they were beating Shawn up? We were getting nowhere with these Sergeants, so we asked for their names again, the rude Sergeant that was doing all the talking finally gave us his card, his name was Sergeant Aeyers, we then left and went back to the jail and the hospital.
We then called a friend of the family who works for DPD and told him what was happening. The friend told us Internal Affairs would not come out on a weekend unless it was a shooting or something more serious. We then continued to try and find out if Michael was still at the hospital or being transported to the jail. The officer at the jail finally told us to go home and wait for Michael to call, so we went to my in-laws house and waited, not knowing if Michael was okay or not.
Michael finally was allowed to call us from the jail, he asked his mother, why he was in jail, his mother told him, they are saying you tried to hit a cop. Michael said he would never try to hit a cop -- his dad is a cop. Michael also said the cops hit him in the head and he was full of blood, the conversation was then cut off by the jail.
At 2:55 p.m. Michael called back and said he had been released and we could go get him. We went to the jail to get Michael but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw when he walked out. When I saw Michael, I was shocked, horrified and scared, his face was totally swollen and bruised, and it looked deformed. There were bumps all over his face -- his face was swollen and blackened -- he had stitches above his left eye, his mouth area was bleeding and busted up, two teeth had been chipped, his arms and legs were bruised and cut.
I could not believe what your officers had done to my son, who has never been in any type of physical confrontation in his life. We immediately took him to Swedish Hospital to be checked again, because we weren’t sure they even cared for him at the hospital he was taken to while in custody. I then called a friend of the family, and told him how bad Michael was beat. My friend stated he would make some calls and try to get Internal Affairs to send someone to meet us at Swedish Hospital. He called back and said a Sergeant was going to meet us at Swedish Hospital.
While at the hospital, the Sergeant did meet us there. The Sergeant appeared to be angry and upset when she saw what your officers had done to Michael. The Sergeant took photographs of Michael and Shawn, along with statements from all of us. We told the Sergeant that they were trying to say Michael tried to punch an officer and Michael said that is a false statement; that he would never try to hit a cop.
The Sergeant stated -- playing Devil’s advocate – “even if Michael did try and hit a cop, it does not justify the beating they put on Michael.” The Sergeant stated she would start investigating our complaint. The next afternoon the Sergeant picked us up and drove us to the area where the beating took place. We looked for the phones that your officers destroyed and got rid of, but we could not find them. We looked around the area to see if any businesses might have an outside video surveillance system that might have caught the incident, at that time we did not find one.
A few days later the Sergeant advised us she was able to locate video surveillance of the incident with Michael and Shawn and the DPD officers, THANK GOD you actually have some good cops that work for you and have integrity and honor for the badge.
To make a very long story short -- over eight months have gone by now -- once this video was seen by the Denver City Attorney, all Michael’s false criminal charges were dropped. I have been trying tirelessly for eight months now to try and get these officers charged, but the Denver DA refuses to charge them, big surprise huh.
I have seen the video once it was given to our lawyer; it is one of the sickest displays of law enforcement I have ever seen.
The video clearly shows your officers lied on their reports and clearly shows Michael did nothing to provoke the beating he has received at the hands of your officers. I can’t believe you can watch this video and tell yourself these officers did nothing wrong and you want them representing you, because that is who they are representing.
The video clearly shows Shawn running from the scene and getting tackled then your officers working him over, at that point Michael walks into the camera view and is clearly not trying to get away, but instead is calling me for help on his phone. Michael is seen on the video as doing nothing to interfere or resist arrest, instead he is just talking to me on the phone stating they are beating up Shawn. One of your officers, Dustin Sparks, then walks up to Michael, tells him something which I heard was, “drop the phone mother f****r” -- then throws Michael down to the ground and starts hitting him with his sap, then two other Officers, Armando Jaramillo and Randy Murr join in on the beating, hitting Michael several times on the head area. Michael was completely knocked out during this beating and did not fight back or resist at all. It is obvious your officers have done this type of beating before and they will do it again.
I know Denver has a long reputation of beating people up, and your department is very proud of that fact, I just never thought my son would be a target of your very bad officers.
I know you will probably say the union prevents you from doing anything to your bad officers, but by YOU not doing anything -- you endorse what your officers are doing to people.
I know very well there is a time for force to be used in an arrest, when it is needed and called for, and only the force needed to take the person into custody; but in this case it was never needed or called for. A person can be taken into custody without having to be beat up by your officers.
My son, my family, to include my law enforcement family, has been hurt beyond what words can define by the actions of your officers. We have filed suit in Federal Court against your department and officers and on 12-11-09. My son said he could not take it going on for at least another year and they reached a settlement, for next to nothing, just to end this ugly situation.
I imagine this happens a lot in Denver, I don’t know why and how the people of Denver keep letting your officers get away with breaking the law they are sworn to protect. My son states he can’t handle it anymore, but I guarantee you I am far from that and will continue to try and do something about what YOUR officers did to my child.
I seriously don’t know how your officers can look in the mirror or go to sleep. I don’t know how you can either, knowing what they are doing when they are out there on the streets representing YOU. This whole situation has caused me to view my commitment to law enforcement in a whole new manner, I do not have any faith in the justice system anymore, and it is thanks to YOUR officers. My son still suffers from post concussion syndrome and has headaches EVERY day from it; my family will never be the same. In twenty-one years as a street officer and 14 ½ years on SWAT I have never had to beat anyone up to affect an arrest, I don’t know how your department is training your officers; but something is definitely wrong, especially since they are still using saps, and yes, I know Denver PD even has a sap named after them.
In closing, I would hope YOU have a conscience and do something about YOUR officers, I am far from over and will continue to fight to make sure there is still some justice in the world!!!!
P.S. If you do watch the video you can clearly see whoever was operating the video system that night tried to protect your officers because once the beating on Michael started the video zooms out and pans away, trying to hide what they are doing, but with the computer software out there now, you are able to move the camera back on Michael and see exactly what they did. I would love to talk with you about your officers and their actions, if you would like to meet sometime I can be reached at ( ). I have tried contacting you by telephone in the past and I am never allowed.
R. Anthony DeHerrera
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