Case Law & Resources: Colorado
Citation
Issue Presented & Facts
Valdez v. Motyka, 15-CV-0109-WJM-STV, 2020 WL 3963717, (D. Colo. July 13, 2020)
Whether a police officer's actions are attributable to Defendant City and County of Denver (“Denver”) through Denver's alleged lax enforcement of use-of-force policies, or to Denver's failure to properly train the officer.
​
Plaintiff (Valdez) exited truck after car chase and immediately went to the ground in a prone position, with his hands raised over his head; but Defendant Officer Motyka, who was shot in the shoulder during the car chase, and with no legitimate public safety need, fired at Plaintiff. It is undisputed that one of Defendant's bullets struck Plaintiff in the lower back. A second bullet struck Plaintiff's left ring finger, severing it, but that bullet may have come from a different officer who also opened fire.
​
In 2013 and earlier (i.e., the relevant time frame for this lawsuit), Denver trained its police officers regarding use of “deadly physical force” by quoting the then-current version of Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-1-707.
The court seems to believe that if these references are made to the law in the training manual, then there is sufficient training. The court did not discuss the extent of the training or the sufficiency of the training.
​Denver trains its police officers on alternatives to deadly force, and on “appropriately tak[ing] cover.” Whether Denver “adequately” trains its police officers in the listed techniques is beyond the competence of a lay jury.
Holding
The mere failure to discipline does not mean that investigation of police use of force are inadequate nor that a police department's policies are leniently enforced.
The undisputed facts showed that Denver trained its police officers to consider non-lethal seizure techniques, and required them to evaluate whether something less than discharging a firearm was practicable.
​
Reference to Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-1-707.
Case Law
Resources
Citation
Summary and Notes
Coordinates and provides resources for de-escalation training for peace officers and certifies that their training is completed.
Summarizes requirements for training.d to identify selves as police officers before shooting.
Relevant Excerpt
N/A
Officers receive mandatory annual de-escalation training and must successfully pass a skills test.
Officers are trained to give a verbal warning in situations before using deadly force.
Officers are trained to exhaust all other alternatives, including non-force and less lethal force options, prior to resorting to deadly force.
Police department in Brighton exceeds state mandated training requirements.
N/A
FCPS has a philosophy of de-escalation. To ensure that it’s a central part of our culture and operations, we integrate de-escalation into all of our training (meaning it’s not just a one-time class). One-third of Fort Collins Officers are also certified in Crisis Intervention Team training (exceeding the national standard of 20%). Training includes verbal commands/warnings issued before force is used.
Police department in Fort Collins likely exceeds state mandated training requirements.
N/A
CSPD recruit training includes 4.5 hours of de-escalation training and use of force considerations.
CSPD also mandates new recruits to participate in additional de-escalation, communication, use of force decision making, and implicit bias training in the context of firearms, arrest control and reality-based training.
CSPD training continues mandatory training its officers every year even after graduating from the academy.
In 2018-2019 officers were required to spend two hours on de-escalation and minimizing the use of force classes.
Police department in Colorado Springs exceeds state mandated training requirements.
N/A