The Denver City Council on Monday approved a combined $500,000 in payments to settle two lawsuits that accused police officers and sheriff’s deputies of violent misconduct.
The larger of the two settlements — $400,000 — stems from a case filed last spring on behalf of Scott Peters.
Denver police officers and paramedics encountered Peters on the afternoon of April 25, 2021, in a parking lot near Empower Field at Mile High. Officers found a bag of what they believed to be cocaine inside his car, and paramedics injected Peters with sedatives without his permission, according to his lawsuit, first filed in March 2023.
After a stay at Denver Health, Peters was transported to the downtown jail. When attempting to move him from a wheelchair into a cell, deputies became needlessly aggressive, Peters’ attorneys claim.
Deputies yanked Peters out of the chair and “brutalized” him inside the cell for nearly five minutes, according to the lawsuit, which conflicts with official department accounts of the incident.
One deputy, identified in the complaint as Daniel Rodriguez, used a pair of nunchucks to control Peters’ right arm, according to the lawsuit — and eventually applied enough force to break his wrist and sever two arteries. The injury required emergency surgery and left Peters with permanent damage, the suit says.
Rodriguez was suspended last year for three days for using excessive force against Peters. He remains a Denver sheriff’s deputy, according to Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Kelly Jacobs.
The incident prompted the Denver Sheriff Department to ban the use of specialized nunchucks for law enforcement officers.
The second settlement stems from accusations that three Denver police officers entered Lidya Ryans’ home in the early morning hours of April 20, 2021, without a warrant and violently arrested her without cause.
Denver will pay $100,000 to settle that matter.
Ryans called police late on April 19 to request assistance because her then-husband was causing a commotion in the home while her adult son, who suffers from complications related to severe brain damage, was sleeping. When officers arrived, the husband was leaving the house and there was no need for police to enter, according to the lawsuit.
Officers entered the home against Ryans’ wishes, the lawsuit alleges, and then became aggressive with her, waking her son. Officer Grisleit Blanco and Cpl. Patrick Smith punched Ryans in the face and head while arresting her, the suit says.
Ryans was charged with assaulting the two officers, a case that was later dismissed by the Denver District Attorney’s Office, according to the suit.
Internal affairs investigators looked into the incident. Blanco’s use of profanity during the arrest was addressed through informal counseling but no further disciplinary action was taken against the officers involved, according to Jacobs with the public safety department.
Attorneys with the Frank Law Office in Denver filed both cases.
“Both of these cases — from the 911 call through the booking process — revealed the levels of brutality meted out by the Denver Police Department and the Denver sheriff’s department,” Cameron Bedard, an attorney with the firm, said in an interview. “At each phase of the criminal legal process, individuals suffer extreme state violence.”
The two agreements passed unanimously on Monday but not before Councilwoman Shontel Lewis called them out to highlight the dollar amounts. She noted that the City Council has approved $3,026,000 combined in legal settlements so far this year.
“I want it to be clear to everyone watching that we are paying attention … and that we are making decisions for the future with this knowledge,” she said.
Between 2017 and 2023, Denver agreed to pay a combined $35.3 million to settle large legal claims brought against the city’s police and sheriff’s departments. That total is 89% of all settlement payments that the City Council approved over that period.
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