Lawsuits alleging Denver cops engage in excessive force are a chronic headache for the city, with residents ponying up $1.34 million for settlements last year, the latest in an annual tab as persistent as a bill from the tax collector.
It was the second year since 2004 that settlements climbed substantially above $1 million.
Last year also accounted for the largest payout since 2004, when the city settled the fatal shooting of Paul Childs, a mentally disabled teen who was armed with a knife.
As in previous years when payments approached or topped $1 million, one case accounted for most of 2011’s total settlement. The city paid $795,000 to Alexander Landau, an aspiring rapper and college student who suffered brain injuries and trauma he alleged were inflicted by officers during a 2009 traffic stop for an illegal left turn.
It is often cheaper to settle the cases than take them to court, where it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay legal experts and other costs — even if the city’s case is strong, said City Attorney Doug Friednash. And in litigation, a win is never a sure thing.
“It’s easy to look at these cases and try to make a media splash,” he said. “In none of these cases do we admit liability. You have to look at the economics as a steward on behalf of the taxpayers.”
City Councilman Charlie Brown said the number of actual cases of excessive force is very small.
“The easy answer is we have got to stop it, but the reality is with 1,400 police officers, things are going to happen, and we have to be firm to keep bad cops off the street,” Brown said.
But Brown also said the city is too quick to settle cases that it could win in court, creating the impression “that we’re easy.”
“We need to step up our litigation efforts after we evaluate these cases,” he said. “If we can make strong cases, we should make them, and where we can’t, we settle.”
The average amount paid per officer to settle cases in Denver per year — $697 — is far lower than that spent by some other cities, Friednash said. He cited Associated Press data that found Chicago averaged $2,930, New York $2,700, Los Angeles $2,200, and Philadelphia $1,360.
The $1.325 million paid to Childs’ estate accounted for the bulk of $1.77 million that excessive-force lawsuits cost the city in 2004.
Mark Silverstein, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said the per-officer payouts minimize the true cost of excessive force by police.
“We can’t let public officials minimize the expense of police brutality by pointing to a lower per-officer cost than other cities,” Silverstein said. “None of those dollar amounts factor in the real human cost. They leave behind a trail of bruised bodies, broken bones and shattered lives, and you can’t put a dollar amount on that.”
Some of the 2011 settlements involved officers implicated in other excessive-force complaints that resulted in their termination. In his lawsuit, Landau, who alleged he was beaten after a traffic stop, named Randy Murr as one of the officers who injured him. Murr was fired for lying about the 2009 beating of Michael DeHerrera in Lower Downtown.
Landau’s lawsuit also named Ricky Nixon, who was fired over a 2009 excessive force incident in front of the Denver Diner.
“If that pattern starts developing in terms of alleged excessive force, we need to make them aware that we are watching them,” Brown said.
In 2008, taxpayers shelled out $1 million in settlements, and $885,000 went to Juan Vasquez, whose liver and kidney were damaged when Chuck Porter allegedly stomped him after a foot chase. Porter and two other officers were fired over the incident.
The death of Francisco Lobato, an unarmed 64-year-old man fatally shot in bed by a police officer July 11, 2004, accounted for $900,000, all but $15,000 of the money the city paid in 2007.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
