Ninety days’ suspension without pay seems a paltry punishment for killing a man in his bed. But that’s what Denver Manager of Safety Al LaCabe has handed Officer Ranjan Ford for shooting Frank Lobato last July.
LaCabe said Friday that he’d considered terminating Ford but found mitigating factors after examining the full circumstances of the case.
Lobato was killed after officers responded to a domestic violence call at 1234 W. 10th Ave. on July 11, 2004. Officers knew that the victim, Cathy Sandoval, was safe, but Ford and other officers climbed a ladder and entered the second floor of the apartment where Lobato’s bedroom was. The officer said he fired when he mistook a soda can that Lobato was holding for a gun. (Sandoval’s assailant, Vincent Martinez, had already fled.)
Last December, a stalemated grand jury didn’t indict Ford, and former District Attorney Bill Ritter chose not to bring charges. He brought no charges in any of the 37 other police killings on his watch.
After investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau, Use of Force Review Board and Disciplinary Review Board, Police Chief Gerry Whitman recommended a 30-day suspension without pay last March. LaCabe rejected that and sent the case back for further investigation. Ford has been doing non-patrol work since the killing.
In his lengthy decision, LaCabe said that Ford’s belief that Lobato “posed an imminent threat of serious bodily injury to him that justified deadly force was simply not reasonable.” Also, Ford’s claim that the only scenarios he considered were that the bedroom was empty or somebody inside would ambush him was unreasonably narrow, given that police knew a man identified as an “uncle” was in the home.
LaCabe found that Ford violated department use-of-force policy. Contrary to training, Ford’s finger was on the trigger before he identified a target and made a decision to shoot.
In Ford’s favor, LaCabe noted during a news conference that other officers had banged on Lobato’s bedroom door and called out but received no response.
Nonetheless, we think Ford shouldn’t carry a badge and a gun. If anything, the report bolsters that belief.
Lobato’s killing differs from the July 2003 shooting of disabled teen Paul Childs by Officer James Turney in that Turney was dealing with a known situation and Ford was confronted with an unknown, according to LaCabe.
Both killings gave impetus to Mayor John Hickenlooper’s recent police reforms, including an independent police monitor, citizen oversight board and changes in training and equipment. The next police shooting will be under close scrutiny by monitor Richard Rosenthal and his staff from the beginning.
LaCabe said the city’s comparative discipline policy, which generally holds that no officer may be punished more severely than another in similar cases, didn’t directly apply in Ford’s case. But that city charter provision has been a problem in the past, and changing it remains an unfinished piece of police reform in Denver.
