A man in a dark Commerce City truck depot has pleaded not guilty to charges he drove at two officers before they opened fire.
Joel Jurado, 26, faces two counts of first-degree attempted assault with extreme indifference and one count of driving with a revoked license.
Jurado is being held at the Adams County jail in lieu of $35,000 bond. He pleaded not guilty to all three counts during his arraignment Monday, court records show.
Police say Jurado struck a Denver police vehicle as two officers approached his pickup truck on foot Nov. 20. Jurado’s younger brother, 20-year-old Carlos Jurado, was also in the truck. The officers shot both men.
Police say the officers contacted Joel Jurado because they suspected he was driving under the influence and eluding them, according to a police report. Joel Jurado has not been charged with driving under the influence or eluding.
Carlos Jurado, who family members said was shot several times, has not been charged.
, prosecutors said Joel Jurado reversed his truck and accelerated toward the officers, forcing them to dive out of the way. During that hearing, Joel Jurado was hooked up to an oxygen tube and his defense attorney said one of his lungs collapsed because of the shooting.
Police in Denver and Commerce City have declined to speak at length about the case. The shooting is under investigation by the Adams County district attorney’s office.
The brothers’ family told The Denver Post in an interview after the shooting .
Denver Police Chief Robert White said any investigation into possible criminal charges against his officers would be the responsibility of the Commerce City Police Department. Until then, he said, he cannot comment on the case or talk to the family about the shooting.
“Once they’re done with it, I will order an administrative investigation,” White said in November.
The shooting of the Jurado brothers was one of four times in seven months that Denver police have fired at moving vehicles. Two suspects have been killed and three have been injured. Police say at least three officers have been injured in the incidents.
Police and the city’s independent monitor on firing at moving vehicles.
A trial for Joel Jurado is set to begin in June.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul
