DENVER – After a week of protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Colorado state lawmakers on Thursday began considering a bill intended to hold police officers more accountable by requiring all officers to wear body cameras and allowing people to file state lawsuits against officers accused of misconduct.
The bill, sponsored by Senate President Leroy Garcia and Sen. Rhonda Fields, both Democrats, would also require agencies to report cases to the attorney general in which the use of force results in death or serious injury to the state,
In addition, officers would be limited to using deadly force to arrest or prevent the escape of a person when that person is using a deadly weapon or likely to cause imminent danger. Along with ending officers’ immunity from lawsuits, it would require them to pay up to $100,000 or 5% of any civil judgment, whichever is less.
Fields said she believes most police officers in Colorado are good and the measure is not directed at them.
“I’m here to address the ones who are doing things that are creating harm in the community, especially in the black community and communities of color,” said Fields, who is black.
The bill got its first hearing as protesters gathered outside the state Capitol for another round of demonstrations.
Relatives of black men from Colorado killed by law enforcement officers testified in favor of the measure, including the mother of Elijah McClain, a 24-year-old man who died in August after getting into a struggle with police in Aurora trying to take him into custody after getting a report about a suspicious person.
Sheneen McClain said her son was peaceful and just walking home from a store when he was accosted by police. Prosecutors declined to send the case to a grand jury, saying they could not prove a crime was committed.
Parts of the bill met strong opposition from law enforcement and prosecutors.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said he was concerned about how the use of force change would affect law enforcement’s ability to stop an armed person running away from a school shooting when officers must decide quickly what to do. He urged lawmakers to carefully consider the proposed changes and said it seemed like people wanted to punish law enforcement in Colorado for the actions of “four bad cops” in Minneapolis.
“I beg you not to do that,” he said.
The family of a black teenager who was shot in the back and killed while running from two police officers in Colorado Springs in August filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the city and the officers.
The officers were investigating a reported armed robbery when they stopped De’von Bailey, 19, and a friend. The lawsuit alleges a man trying to settle a grudge called police and falsely reported being held up by the two friends.
The lawsuit accuses Colorado Springs of failing to adequately train and supervise its officers in the constitutional use of deadly force. The city did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI reviewed the shooting but concluded in March there was no evidence of a criminal civil rights violation.
