The top lawyer for Denver International Airport resigned this week amid a city investigation into his behavior at a recent holiday party for DIA executives.
Scott McCoy, DIA’s general counsel, acknowledged during an interview Thursday that he got physical with another attorney — one of his subordinates — during an impromptu demonstration of a police interaction that apparently caught the other guy off guard during the Dec. 16 event. He called it a mistake to touch anyone “without getting their consent.”
But he disputed characterizations of the level of violence earlier this week, saying he didn’t realize until the next day that his actions were perceived by the other attorney and others to be inappropriate. He said they did not appear to accept his apologies. The other attorney involved declined to comment Thursday.
“I didn’t want it to continue to be a distraction,” McCoy said, so he submitted his resignation, which takes effect Saturday.
His conduct had drawn scrutiny from the Denver City Attorney’s Office, which appointed him to the post at DIA. The dual role is considered an executive vice president-level position at the airport. He started the job in early May, overseeing an airport legal staff of 18; his most recent salary was $205,000 a year, a city spokeswoman said.
Jacqlin Davis, the public information officer for the City Attorney’s Office, issued a statement Thursday saying the office “promptly investigated the unfortunate incident that took place at DEN’s holiday gathering,” though she didn’t specify when that investigation began. She confirmed that McCoy had resigned and said, “Because this is a personnel matter, the CAO declines to provide any further comment.”
The incident played out in a matter of seconds during the evening party at a hotel near DIA, which drew airport CEO Phil Washington and other high-level officials. McCoy said he joined several people in a “casual conversation” about police use-of-force practices and some calls to “defund the police” in the wake of high-profile deaths of people in police custody in recent years.
While he discussed the importance of police de-escalation techniques, McCoy said, he decided to engage in role-playing to illustrate his point — by modeling how a person might resist arrest and provoke an officer, a situation that would require strategic thinking on the officer’s part to defuse. It’s a topic he’s passionate about, he said.
So he turned to the other airport attorney, McCoy said, and touched him repeatedly on his upper torso, waved his hands at the other attorney’s face and shouted.
McCoy acknowledged that he caught the other attorney by surprise.
But he disputed that he “violently slapped” the colleague in the face multiple times in a way that nearly knocked him out of his chair. That is how on Monday characterized his conduct, citing an unnamed source. McCoy told The Post he’d had very little alcohol to drink and was not intoxicated — “absolutely not.”
“My recollection is that I was touching (the other attorney) on the shoulder, and I was also waving my hand really close to his face,” McCoy said, before adding: “I shouldn’t have touched anybody without making myself really clear. That was a mistake.”
