The family of Juan Contreras, shot to death six months ago by an Aurora police officer during an undercover extortion investigation, is going to court to force the city to turn over records of the incident.
The city of Aurora has denied records requests from Kenneth Padilla, a civil-rights attorney representing Contreras’ widow, Margarita Madrigal, because the case is still under investigation by the Arapahoe County district attorney.
Prosecutors still are deciding whether the July 23 shooting outside the Family Dollar store at East Colfax Avenue and Peoria Street was legally justified.
The name of the officer has not been released by the Aurora Police Department, spokeswoman Sgt. Cassidee Carlson said. The officer is back on full duty.
After the district attorney renders a decision, the case must be reviewed by the Aurora Police Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau before any information will be made public, said City Attorney Charlie Richardson.
“The DA’s office is acting on behalf of all the people. That is the more important component of this than the public needing to know immediately,” Richardson said.
But Padilla wants a judge to decide because the records and reports will help him weigh whether to pursue a civil lawsuit. There is a two-year statute of limitations from the day of the incident to file a civil suit.
Denver attorney Steven Zansberg, an expert on public-records law, said some information — typically “official actions” such as an arrest — is open under Colorado law, but records of an investigation may be protected if the city can justify why they should be kept secret.
Richardson said he was burned in the past by a family who said they just wanted information about what happened to their loved one, and he released the information.
“And it ended up on Channel 4, and I am never going to let that happen for the remainder of my career here,” he said.
Padilla disagrees that the records should be withheld while an investigation is underway because releasing them does not reveal inside intelligence or security procedures, which are protected under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act.
“The Aurora records clerk fails to identify how and in what manner disclosure would contravene the public interest,” Padilla wrote in court papers. “The failure of the Aurora Police Department and the city of Aurora to release copies of the police report and investigation is a blatant coverup of the shooting and killing of Juan Contreras.”
Contreras, 59, was shot three times after punching an officer through an open car window and then reaching for a knife in his center console, police said.
Earlier that day, an elderly woman called police because someone left a note on her car demanding money for her keys, which she had lost.
The officer went to meet the person with the keys in plainclothes. He did not have his badge when he met Contreras in the parking lot of the Family Dollar store.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
