Just before midnight yesterday, the Right to Rest Act died in a committee hearing on a 8 to 5 vote. The measure had been dubbed as a homeless bill of rights.
Paul Boden, Executive and Organizing Director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) told KGNU’s Dave Ashton that there is a wave of ordinances criminalizing the homeless sweeping the nation. He says homelessness has reached a critical point in the country.
Boden who was one of the participants at a rally ahead of the committee hearing said that
“Anybody that is less than wealthy is at risk of, at some point depending on certain circumstances, ending up out on the street. It isn’t like our DNA changed and in the early ’80s we decided sleeping in the streets was fun. It was directly related to our inability to afford housing and that’s what homelessness is, it’s without housing and nothing ends homelessness like a home.”
This was the third year that a Right to Rest bill has died at the State House. This year’s version was introduced by Representatives Joseph Salazar and Jovan Melton.
The City of Colorado Springs has agreed to pay $212,000 to settle a racial profiling lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Colorado alleging that Ryan and Benjamin Brown were pulled over because of their race, handcuffed, searched, and detained at gun point and taser point, all without legal justification.
The Colorado Springs Police Department has also agreed to several revisions of its policies on stops, searches, and recording officers.
A video of the 2015 stop that was posted online has been viewed more than 165,000 times.
An attorney representing the family of Michael Marshall said yesterday that they are considering a lawsuit against the Denver sheriff department.
Marshall died in a Denver jail in 2015 after he was restrained during a psychotic episode. He choked on his own vomit. His death was ruled a homicide.
City officials announced yesterday that three Denver sheriff’s deputies, including a watch commander, have been suspended — without pay and each for at least 10 days.
The disciplinary letters for the three deputies said inappropriate force was used during the struggle, which was compounded by poor leadership and a lack of situational awareness.
Marshall’s family called the suspensions shockingly light.
