A 12-year veteran of the Denver Police Department was arrested Thursday on a felony charge of second-degree assault after accusations that he used excessive force against a 16-year-old. Officer Charles Porter, 40, has been suspended without pay from the department. He had been assigned to the gang bureau prior to the charges.
The suspension is in connection with alleged excessive force against Juan "Willie" Vasquez, who suffered a lacerated liver, kidney injuries and broken ribs on April 18 near West 37th Avenue and Pecos Street. An incident report was unavailable late Thursday. Vasquez has undergone at least two surgeries at Denver Health Medical Center and still has a tube inserted into his back to expel bodily fluids, said his brother Felipe Vasquez, 27. "He said they jumped on him with both feet," the brother said. "He said they beat him and hit him with a flashlight, and they left him there and gave each other high-fives, and then the ambulance came. Then they said, 'What happened, did you fall?' "

The arrest of a Denver officer in connection with use of force is not unprecedented, but it is rare. The vast majority of citizen complaints alleging unnecessary force by police result in no internal discipline, let alone criminal charges.
Porter, who has declined comment, has had a past discipline issue. Safety Manager Al LaCabe last year suspended Porter for 30 days without pay for failing to notify police dispatchers that his partner had shot a suspect on March 29, 2007. A police supervisor eventually made the proper notifications in that case.

Independent monitor Richard Rosenthal, who oversees police internal investigations, had pushed for a harsher penalty for the failure to notify dispatch of the shooting.

In a report on the incident, Rosenthal, without naming Porter, said he thought a harsher penalty of a 60-day suspension was warranted, in part, because Porter originally made a misleading statement to the dispatcher that he and his partner were investigating a one-car crash even after the shots had been fired. "The officer was deceptive in his communication with dispatch, incomplete in his communication with his supervisor and, as such, put numerous lives in danger," Rosenthal wrote in the report. "In addition, his actions had a negative impact on the integrity of a well- thought out and long-standing officer-involved shooting investigation protocol."
For the recent assault allegations, Porter was booked by the Denver Sheriff Department and posted bond Thursday.

Lt. Ronald Saunier said that an investigation into the excessive-force case is ongoing and that a decision on formal charges is not expected from the Denver district attorney's office until later this week. The Denver chapter of the Latino Peace Officers Association, which is composed of more than 80 Denver police officers, has asked Police Chief Gerry Whitman to turn the case over to the FBI for investigation of possible civil-rights violations. [MORE]