Dalvin Gadson | Source: The Law Offices of Harry Daniels, Latin Law Group and The Strom Law Fi
This article contains graphic and violent imagery that some readers and viewers may find uncomfortable.
On the one-year anniversary of the night Colorado Springs police officers beat and violently arrested then-29-year-old Dalvin Gadson because the unhoused U.S. military veteran refused to comply with police orders to leave his vehicle—which he was living out of at the time—the case was finally referred for criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
As previously reported, some of the cops involved in the incident, which occurred on October 9, 2022, were caught on video laughing and bragging about the beating. One officer, Mathew Anderson, was photographed smiling and proudly displaying his bruised knuckle, presumably from the beating.
From KKTV 11 News:
In December, civil rights attorneys filed a federal lawsuit. Monday, the attorneys announced Michael Alston, director of the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights, directly referred the case to the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section.
“One year later, [Colorado Springs Police] Chief Vasquez still refuses to hold his officers accountable after they beat and bloodied an unarmed man over a license tag infraction,” said Harry Daniels, one of the civil rights attorneys representing Gadson. “Today we are confident that the Department of Justice will begin to correct that injustice and do what he won’t.”
“These aren’t just careless cops who made a mistake,” co-counsel Bakari Sellers echoed. “They’re hostile, violent and downright dangerous and, as long as they’re on the streets, the people of Colorado Springs are not safe.”
Of course, the police claimed at the time that “when officers attempted to pull Mr. Gadson from the vehicle he physically fought with officers and on more than one instance re-entered the vehicle in the area of the knife.” It’s an account that’s difficult to believe considering Gadson—who was pulled over for failing to display his tags on his car and then suddenly suspected of DUI—can be heard on police body camera footage saying, “I’m not hitting you. What the f-ck did I do?! I wasn’t trying to fight y’all,” to which an officer responded, “You’re under arrest you dumb f-ck!”
At any rate, there really should be no debate about who was fighting who when the altercation left Gadson visibly beaten bloody while the only signs of a fight on his assailants’ bodies were on Anderson’s knuckles.
It’s also worth mentioning that charges of DUI, obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest were all dropped against Gadson, and it’s doubtful that would’ve happened if the cops could prove their victim was attacking them.
Then again, this is America, where it’s a steep uphill battle to get brutal police officers held accountable for anything.
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