“It comes as no surprise that, once again, Denver’s DA is exonerating the illegal actions of its officers.”
On Friday June 5th, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey released his report into the fatal police shooting of Denver teen Jessica Hernandez.
The report concludes that there is no basis to charge the police officers with a crime, saying they had legal grounds to shoot at the moving car which the 17 year old was driving in Denver’s Park Hill Neighborhood on January 26.
The DA’s report concludes that neither officer Gabriel Jordan nor officer Daniel Greene was struck by the car Hernandez was driving however Morrissey justified their shooting as a way of defending against “the manner in which she drove the car in close and dangerous proximity to them.”
Siddartha Rathod the attorney for the Hernandez family says they are pursuing a federal civil rights lawsuit. “It comes as no surprise that, once again, Denver’s DA is exonerating the illegal actions of its officers,” Rathod said in a statement.
The city of Denver has settled several million dollar lawsuits for excessive force and death at the hands of Denver police officers and sheriffs. In 2014, a jury awarded the family of Marvin Booker $6 million over his 2010 death at the hands of sheriff’s deputies at the city jail. Alex Landau received an $800,000 settlement for his injuries following his 2009 beating by Denver police officers Tiffany Middleton, Randy Murr, and Ricky Nixon.
Civil liberties and community groups have reacted angrily to the report on the Hernandez killing, saying this is further evidence of a lack of accountability in the Denver Police Department. The ACLU is calling for a federal probe into the Denver Police Department.
