An Adams County grand jury has indicted four Westminster police officers, including the commander and members of an elite tactical unit in connection with an August police brutality complaint.
Sgt. Mark Toth and officers Norman Haubert and Jason Poppenger were indicted late Monday on charges of third degree assault, official misconduct and filing a false report. Officer Chris Pyler was charged with official misconduct and filing a false report, said Thomas Quammen, spokesman for District Attorney Don Quick.
If convicted of any of the charges in the case, in which Scott Danielson was allegedly struck repeatedly on the shoulders and scratched on the cheek during an arrest following a hit and run chase, the officers would be ineligible to hold state police officer certification, said Westminster Police Chief Dan Montgomery.
“These are all certification killers,” Montgomery said.
The department already fired Toth, commander of the Special Crimes Attack Team, according to Quammen, and disciplined the others, two of whom were also members of the unit. Additionally, five other Westminster officers, who were not named, were disciplined after they failed to stop pursuing hit-and-run suspect Danielson on August 27th, once a supervisor called off the chase, Montgomery said.
“I’m so embarrassed over this,” Montgomery said. “They let us and the community down. We won’t tolerate that kind of conduct.”
The Westminster police department suspended five police officers without pay for one week, one officer for two weeks and reprimanded two other officers, Spokesman Tim Read said. Police make about $1,200 a week, he said.
Two of the officers were removed from the Special Crimes Attack Team (SCAT). Officials would not say which officers were reprimanded and which were suspended.
The four indicted police officers could not be reached for comment.
“These are all good officers,” said Louis Engleberg, president of the Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge 25 “It’s a trying day for all of us.”
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell can be reached at 303-820-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com.
