A 2011 argument over the quality of a cocktail at a Denver bar led an off-duty police officer to twice shock a bar patron with a Taser.
Now, the city is proposing a $45,000 settlement with Kevin Smith, who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming he was the victim of excessive force, according to Tuesday’s City Council agenda.
Council members will be asked to approve the settlement during their Tuesday meeting. It is one of two proposed settlements on the agenda.
The other case involves , who sued after he was arrested in 2010 by a Denver police officer who failed to determine that he was not the person being sought on an arrest warrant. A Denver Sheriff Department employee’s actions also were cited in the suit.
The proposed settlement amount is $88,530, according to the agenda.
Mistaken identity arrests have been an ongoing problem for Denver law enforcement, and the city has been working for years with the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado to reduce them.
In December, the city settled a for $337,250. Payments were made to three people and the ACLU, which had filed the suit.
In Smith’s excessive-force case, he had gone in December 2011 to a northeast Denver lounge with two women, one of whom did not like the drink the bartender had poured.
The woman complained, but the bartender became angry, and an argument erupted, according to the lawsuit. Denver police Sgt. Carla Havard was working off-duty security and was called to intervene.
The argument became more heated, the lawsuit said. And Havard, who was wearing her police uniform, pulled her Taser from its holster and fired it at Smith. She also used pepper spray on the woman who had been complaining about her drink.
Smith fell but was shocked a second time when he tried to stand. The lawsuit claims both Taser shocks were unprovoked.
The police department’s internal affairs bureau investigated the 2011 incident but did not find Havard guilty of misconduct, said Mary Dulacki, records coordinator for the Denver Department of Public Safety.
Havard, who remains on the force, has been accused of inappropriate force on two other occasions. One complaint was withdrawn, and the internal affairs bureau found no misconduct in the other, Dulacki said.
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Noelle_Phillips
