ACLU Files 2 Suits Against Denver Police for Racial Bias: Latino Man Wrongfully Detained and Arrested 5 days for Being 'Illegal Immigrant'

From [HERE] and [HERE] and [HERE] Two lawsuits filed within the past week in federal court accuse the Denver Police Department of racial bias.

In the first lawsuit filed in federal court Monday, attorneys for the ACLU allege that officers falsely accused Denver resident Jose Sanchez of being an “illegal immigrant,” improperly arrested him for supposedly providing “false identification,” and illegally entered and searched the home of his girlfriend without a warrant. The ACLU says that the alleged “false” identification was a valid photo ID card issued by the Department of Homeland Security. Sanchez was jailed for five days, which caused him to lose his job, according to the ACLU.

“This case highlights two issues that the Citizens Oversight Board and the Independent Monitor have repeatedly identified as subjects of multiple complaints about Denver police: Racial profiling and illegal entries into the homes of Denver residents,” said a statement from Mark Silverstein, ACLU of Colorado legal director. “Denver police need to base their policing on evidence, not biased stereotypes and they need to respect the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.”

According to the ACLU, Sanchez was visiting his girlfriend in July 2010 when he stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and talked in Spanish with an acquaintance. Police officers approached Sanchez and “demanded that Mr. Sanchez identify himself” and provide an ID, according to the ACLU. When Sanchez said the ID was in the apartment and he could go get it, police officers instead went inside without getting the consent of Sanchez’ girlfriend, who was in the shower, says the ACLU.

Police located Sanchez’ photo ID in a backpack and declared it was a fake, accused Sanchez of having multiple pieces of fake ID, arrested him and took him to jail, according to the ACLU. However, the ACLU claims that the officers could have quickly checked the validity of the card with Homeland Security.

Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said the department received a complaint about the encounter but when investigators tried to unravel the incident, the person complaining was uncooperative. He said he couldn't comment further on the lawsuit.

 In the second case, two African- American men accuse officers of pulling them over in 2009 without cause, then making them sit on the sidewalk for 45 minutes in subfreezing weather.

The men say officers accused them of being gang members and used racial epithets to taunt them. Charges stemming from the stop were ultimately dismissed, with the judge describing the officers' actions as "extreme, profane and racially motivated," according to the suit.

Last year, the men, Ashford Wortham and Cornelius Campbell, won a $24,000 settlement from the city in a separate suit alleging city officials wrongly withheld records from the internal police investigation of the traffic stop.

There have been seven lawsuits filed so far this year in federal court accusing Denver officers of wrongdoing. One has been dismissed.

Between 2004 and September 2010, the department was sued in state and federal court 185 times, according to a report presented to the City Council last year. In that time, the city paid more than $6 million to settle some of those suits. Of the cases that were not settled, 64 were dismissed, eight were decided in favor of the city and six were decided for the plaintiffs.

So far this year, two excessive-force cases filed in previous years have been decided in favor of the city.