Officer Bob

DENVER, CO: Well, it ain’t rocket science. When a guy savagely attacks an officer’s flashlight, shattering it with his back, then he gets what he’s got comin’. Lawsuit, yeah, whatever, I mean, good luck suing the department. What I wanna know is - how are you supposed to replace your favorite flashlight? It’ll never be just like it was.

The lawsuit gave the following account:

One officer threatened to shoot Vasquez in the back after Vasquez fled the scene. That officer then threw a police-issue flashlight that struck Vasquez with such force it shattered.

The youth tripped when confronted by another officer, and the first officer jumped on his back, shouting: “You (expletive) little (expletive), you made me break my flashlight.”

That officer then jumped on the teen’s back, punching him on the side of the head repeatedly despite protestations from the youth that his hands were behind his back.

Three other officers and Porter converged, repeatedly striking Vasquez and kicking him.

“Plaintiff begged the defendants to stop hurting him because he could not breathe and he was throwing up,” the lawsuit states.

It states that Porter then grasped the top of a fence with both hands and jumped up and down as Vasquez continued to vomit and begged for his life.

After handcuffing Vasquez, the police asked if he fell and how many times he fell.

The lawsuit states the incident stemmed from inadequate training of officers and a pattern of failing to discipline officers adequately.