A Denver police officer has been suspended for 90 days for prejudicial conduct, and sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation after a series of derogatory comments about a fellow employee.
According to a police departmental order of disciplinary action, in February, April and May, Ricardo Damian, then a detective assigned to the department’s crime scene unit, “frequently made inappropriate verbal derogatory gender (gay/lesbian) based statements … on several occasions.”
According to the report, which was first obtained by CBS4, several crime-scene investigators who worked with Damian were interviewed after the department’s internal affairs bureau began an investigation. One told the IAB that while driving with Damian, whenever the voice of the female in question came over the radio, Damian would make inappropriate comments, including calling her “a useless (expletive)” or “the man supervisor.”
Over time, the report says, department employees were so troubled by Damian’s remarks that they filed a complaint against him. When questioned, Damian admitted to using some of the inappropriate language but dismissed it as “lunch room banter.”
Damian was suspended in September for the violation of two department rules. While both carried 90-day suspensions, Damian is being allowed to serve them concurrently. The penalty was mitigated, the report said, because Damian has no significant disciplinary history and that he “has taken some responsibility for his behavior.”
During an IAB interview, Damian told investigators that he admitted “to saying some things that he ‘isn’t proud of.’ “
The suspension began Monday and will run through Jan. 2.
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292, acotton@ or twitter. com/anthonycottondp
