DENVER — A Boulder man who claims he was assaulted at a peaceful protest has filed a lawsuit against more than a dozen Denver Police officers.
The protest happened July 29, 2020. Mikey Jacobs was at Lincoln Park near the state Capitol, protesting the cleanup of a homeless camp earlier in the day by the Denver Police Department (DPD).
Jacobs said he was unarmed and not threatening at all times and, for that reason, was stunned by what happened to him.
"I come with one message, and that is peace and love and unity," he said.
Police body camera video and cellphone video taken by a witness show several DPD officers descending on Jacobs. The officers put him on the ground.
"I had one officer grab my hair and pull my head off the ground so he could punch it as hard as he could," Jacobs said.
Another officer, identified by Jacobs' attorney as Greg Dulayev, appeared to hit Jacobs with his baton.
"And with the tip of it, jam it extremely forcefully into my anus," Jacobs said.
Jacobs was arrested at the protest, but the Denver District Attorney's Office later dismissed the one charge he faced of disarming a police officer.
Jacobs and his attorney filed the lawsuit in October in Denver District Court against five DPD officers, claiming excessive force and failure to intervene. They amended the lawsuit Tuesday to include 10 more DPD officers and Chief Paul Pazen.
"Chief Pazen is culpable in this matter because of his involvement in creating, and allowing to persist, a culture in which excessive force against citizens is condoned, not investigated, and officers who commit excessive force are not disciplined," said Nick Lutz, Jacobs' attorney.
Jacobs and his attorney have not yet attached a dollar amount to the lawsuit. Jacobs said the case is about more than money.
"What is most important to me is that what happened here doesn't happen again," he said.
The Denver City Attorney's Office declined to comment on the case, citing the pending litigation.
So far, none of the officers named in the lawsuit has been disciplined but, according to the Denver Department of Public Safety, four of the officers are included in an ongoing internal affairs investigation.
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