While the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers prompted protests around the country, people marching in Denver are remembering local people of color who have been killed by law enforcement. They’ve shouted their names from the State Capitol steps and chanted them as they marched the streets.
Here are some of them:
Paul Childs
Childs, a developmentally-delayed 15-year-old, was killed by police in July 2003 after his family called for help as the teen was causing problems. Childs was holding a kitchen knife when police arrived, and an officer shot Childs when he refused to drop it.
The police officer who shot Childs was suspended 10 months for the shooting and other violations, but a hearing officer overturned it after an appeal, saying he had not violated department policies in the shooting. The cop was suspended five days for minor infractions committed the day before the shooting. The Denver District Attorney did not pursue criminal charges. The city paid the Childs family $1.325 million in a settlement. The shooting also led to reforms, including a new use-of-force policy.
Frank Lobato
The 63-year-old Lobato was bedridden when police raided his family home in July 2004 while looking for a nephew, who was wanted in connection with a domestic violence incident. Officers used a ladder to climb through an upstairs window and the officer who shot Lobato said the man bolted upright in his bed with something shiny in his hands. Lobato was unarmed but a soda can was found on the floor after Lobato was shot and it was likely that was what he was holding when officers entered.
A grand jury declined to file charges against the officer, but he was suspended for 90 days. The suspension later was reduced to 50 days after an appeal. Denver paid the Lobato family $900,000 in a settlement.
Marvin Booker
Booker was a homeless street preacher who was killed in 2010 by five Denver Sheriff Department deputies who shocked him with a Taser, put him in a sleeper hold and hit him with nunchuks as they pinned him to the floor. The incident started as Booker tried to retrieve his shoes after taking them off in the booking area. A federal jury concluded the deputies used excessive force and the city ultimately paid the family $6 million. The deputies were not disciplined and never faced criminal charges. Denver District Attorney Beth McCann took the case to a grand jury but in 2018 the grand jury investigation concluded with no further action taken.
Ryan Ronquillo
In June 2014, Ronquillo was killed by Denver police officers while in a stolen car in a funeral home parking lot in northwest Denver. He was shot as grieving families who were leaving a rosary service watched. Officers surrounded Ronquillo, who was not armed, to serve an arrest warrant, and the 20-year-old put his car in gear, striking a female officer and cars in an attempt to escape. No officers were criminally charged, and then-Chief Robert White concluded officers did not violate any of department policies. However, Ronquillo’s death would be among several instances in a short time span where officers shot people in moving cars, leading the chief to forbid that except under the most extreme circumstances.
Jessica Hernandez
The LGBTQ Latina was 17 in January 2015 when two Denver Police Department officers shot her as she drove a stolen car. She and friends had stayed out all night and fell asleep in the car in an alley in a Northeast Denver neighborhood. Hernandez tried to escape the officers by driving around their squad cars that blocked the alley. She was struck by three bullets, but officers fired eight times at Hernandez and four other teens in the car. No charges were filed, and no discipline was handed down. The city paid her family $1 million and agreed to a number of police reforms in a legal settlement.
Naeschylus Carter-Vinzant
Carter-Vinzant was a parole absconder and the Aurora Police Department had an arrest warrant for him in connection with a domestic violence incident. On March 6, 2015, Aurora’s SWAT unit tried to apprehend Carter-Vinzant and officers said he had his right hand in his pocket as if he might have a gun. As he removed his hand from his pocket, an Aurora police officer fatally shot him. Carter-Vinzant did not have a gun. The First Judicial District Attorney Peter Weir took the case to a grand jury, which declined to file charges against the officer. The family sued Aurora over the fatal shooting, receiving a $2.6 million settlement, the largest settlement over excessive force in the city’s history. The city also agreed to changes for its oversight of the police department.
Paul Castaway
Castaway’s mother called Denver police for help in July 2015 after her son threatened her with a knife during a psychotic episode. Police chased Castaway, a 35-year-old American Indian, through a nearby mobile home park where they cornered him. Castaway turned and approached officers while holding a kitchen knife to his neck. An officer shot and killed him as families, including children, watched. Castaway’s family said he suffered from schizophrenia and substance abuse. No police officers were criminally charged or disciplined.
Michael Marshall
Marshall was a homeless man who was in the throes of a psychotic episode in November 2015 when six Denver Sheriff Department deputies pinned him to the floor. Marshall, who was in jail for trespassing and disturbing the peace, had been taken into custody while causing a disturbance at a motel because he wanted his Bible. Marshall asphyxiated on his vomit while being restrained for 11 minutes. The city agreed to a $4.6 million settlement. Two deputies and a captain were suspended for their actions in the death, but a hearing officer overturned two of those suspensions. Those disciplinary hearings continue to wind through the city’s appeals process. No one was criminally charged in connection with the death.
David Baker
Baker, a 32-year-old Navy veteran, died from suffocation in December 2018 after a violent, seven-minute fight with Aurora police officers after they were called for a domestic disturbance. Officers used a Taser on Baker 11 times for a total of nearly one minute. When officers gained control, they restrained Baker and held him face down for 90 seconds. They started chest compressions when they learned he had quit breathing. Baker suffered from bipolar disorder, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
De’Von Bailey
Two Colorado Springs Police Department officers shot 19-year-old De’Von Bailey in the back in August 2019 as he ran from them after they stopped him for questioning about a reported armed robbery. After he collapsed, officers found a gun tucked into his gym shorts but they admitted during an internal investigation they did not see the gun before they fired at Bailey. An El Paso County grand jury determined the officers did not commit a crime when they killed Bailey, and an FBI investigation determined the teen’s civil rights had not been violated by police.
The family sued the Colorado Springs Police Department on June 4, saying they used excessive force and racial profiling in the shooting.
Elijah McClain
McClain, 23, died after a struggle with Aurora police officers that began in August 2019 when someone called to report a suspicious person wearing a mask and waving his arms as he walked down the street. When three officers approached, McClain, who was not armed, told them he had a right to walk on the streets and the interaction escalated into violence. Officers used a carotid pressure hold before they handcuffed McClain. He was injected with ketamine for sedation. McClain went into cardiac arrest on the way to the hospital, and his family took him off life support seven days later. An autopsy report was inconclusive. All officers involved were cleared of criminal wrong-doing.
