A Denver District Court jury deliberated two hours today and found a Denver police officer not guilty of using excessive force in breaking the front teeth of a bicyclist outside Coors Field last year.
Corporal Michael Cordova, 33, was charged with third-degree assault for allegedly smashing John Heaney’s face into the pavement on April 4, 2008, during the Colorado Rockies’ home opener.
The incident cast serious doubt on the police department’s truthfulness after police initially charged Heaney, 59, with second-degree assault on a police officer.
Police said Cordova, who was working undercover against ticket scalpers, yelled at Heaney for riding his bicycle through a red light outside Coors Field.
Numerous police officers told investigators that Heaney punched Cordova in the face, then began a fistfight. Heaney was charged with assaulting a cop, which carries a three-year sentence.
But Heaney’s lawyer, Lonn Heymann, canvassed the area with fliers looking for witnesses and found a videotape of the incident shot by a free-lance sports photographer, Greg Prinkey. The video showed police on top of Heaney, slamming his face into the pavement. Heaney’s two front teeth were broken in the incident.
Three other witnesses also came forward, testifying that Heaney never hit Cordova but was slammed face-first into the pavement.
Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey then dismissed charges against Heaney and charged Cordova with second-degree assault, which was later reduced to third-degree assault for using excessive force. Cordova was suspended from the police force without pay.
In closing arguments this morning, Deputy DA Doug Jackson told the six-person jury that “the police feel like anything goes until the victim is in handcuffs, and that’s wrong.”
He said the videotape showed that officers had control of both of Heaney’s hands when Cordova slammed his face into the pavement. He said when Cordova was asked about using excessive force, before the videotape surfaced, that he lied by replying, “Absolutely not.”
“Why conceal something when it was consistent with your training?” Jackson asked the jury. “It wasn’t consistent with his training. It was excessive force.”
Defense attorney Marc Colin told the jury that Heaney’s legs were flailing in the videotape as Heaney was trying to trip Cordova and was resisting arrest.
“There were no injuries to the protruding portions of Heaney’s face, his chin, his nose and his lips, which (witness) John McDowell testified would be consistent with his face being pushed into a flat surface,” Colin told the jury. “The evidence doesn’t show that John Heaney’s teeth were broken by use of excessive force by Corp. Cordova.
“Corp. Cordova was acting within his duties and responsibilities as a police officer.”
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
