Denver Police Beat Unarmed Man, Topple His Pregnant Girlfriend and Delete the Evidence

Officers with the Denver Police Department deleted bystander footage that showed them beating an unarmed man named David Flores and knocking his pregnant girlfriend, Mayra Lazos Guerrero, to the ground. Fortunately, the segment was sent to a remote digital storage network known as a cloud, and the horrific event is preserved for all to see.

Veteran Denver police officer Charles Jones IV hit Flores — who was suspected of having hidden drugs in his mouth — in the face six times, repeatedly knocking his head against the concrete ground. The videographer, Levi Fraser, told FOX 31 news, “I used to cage fight for quite a while and I’ve never seen punches harder than that.”

Former police officer Mark Carlson was hired to review the case. He accused the officers of using excessive force. “I just don’t see how either swallowing evidence or — they’re worried about him choking — is justifying that degree of force. You’re risking — ‘we don’t want you to choke, so we’re gonna fracture your face instead.’ “

At the end of the clip below, one of the FOX 31 anchors offers, “If there’s one takeaway for the viewer here, I think it should be this: If you’re out in public and you see something happening and it’s out in public, you can videotape it. And nobody can do anything about that.” His co-anchor adds, “You can videotape it and you don’t have to listen to police when they say turn it over if they don’t have a search warrant.”

These bold remarks stand as a rare criticism by members of a corporate press that is usually content to view American police officers caught seemingly abusing their power as undeserving of fault or blame.

— Posted by Donald Kaufman.