Two years ago on a Sunday night, Frank Lobato was fatally shot in his bed by a Denver police officer, who while searching for someone else mistook Lobato’s soda can for a weapon.
To mark the second anniversary of Lobato’s killing, 30 area residents and members of an independent police- watch group rallied Tuesday night on the steps of the City and County Building, declaring that Denver needs to do more to stop police brutality.
“Frank Lobato was an innocent man,” the Lobato family’s attorney, Kenneth Padilla, told listeners, some of whom held signs reading, “A soda pop can is not a gun.”
“They (the officers) were out to get some action that night, and they did, and an innocent man died,” Padilla said.
Rally organizers from Denver CopWatch, as well as Padilla, said they still seek justice for Lobato by calling for the firing of the officer who killed him.
Officer Ranjan Ford Jr. was suspended for 90 days by the city’s manager of public safety, but appealed. The suspension was reduced to 50 days. Ford served the suspension and is back at work.
A police spokeswoman declined to comment on the rally, but Mayor John Hickenlooper’s office has pointed to efforts to make the police department more transparent.
In 2004, the mayor convened a community task force to explore opportunities for enhanced civilian oversight. As a result, the city created the Office of the Independent Monitor and took steps to increase citizen participation on the Use of Force Review Board and Disciplinary Review Board.
“Between the efforts of the independent monitor and the manager of safety, there is also more transparency than ever in these issues,” said Hickenlooper spokeswoman Lindy Eichenbaum Lent.
Padilla, who is representing Lobato’s family in a $10 million federal lawsuit set for trial next summer, has maintained that Ford’s punishment was lenient and sends the wrong message to police.
Rally organizer Stephen Nash of CopWatch said the city needs a better-trained police force, an independent agency to investigate police for misconduct and a group of commissioners instead of a manager of public safety.
“This rally tonight is part of an ongoing process to keep pressure on the city to create some real reforms,” Nash said. “We’d like to see these officers investigated in a credible way.”
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
