Community in Support of Police Reform Denounces Biased Reporting

The Denver Community Defense and members of the Denver community held a press conference last night denouncing not only public officials’ attention but especially media attention that was directed to the red paint that was spilled on a police officer monument on February 14th. On that date about 200 people marched in downtown Denver to call for indictments against the police officers involved in recent police shootings of unarmed residents. Sometime during the march, red paint-apparently symbolizing red blood-was poured over the monument of fallen police officers.

At the press conference, participants compared the paint incident to the violence against Denver residents by displaying a banner with a photo of the painted monument next to a photo of Denver resident Alex Landau who was beaten by police in 2009 and received an approximate $800,000 settlement from the city of Denver. Two of the officers involved in his case were also involved in 2 separate incidents of police violence that were also settled out of court. At the press conference, speakers pointed to a similar pattern, the case of Officer Jeffrey DiManna who is also involved in three recent cases of police shootings leaving targets either severely injured or dead.

KGNU was specifically invited to the press conference as were only members of independent media, because of what the organizers said was “biased reporting that weighed more on the spilling of paint than on the killings of unarmed community members.”