Denver police accused of profiling Black driver, comparing him to ‘a turd,’ lawsuit says
A Black man in Colorado sued the city of Denver on Feb. 3, saying he was racially profiled by several police officers responding to a 2020 traffic crash.
The incident occurred around 5 p.m. on April 27, 2020, when Keilon Hill, who was 25 at the time, got into a minor traffic accident. Hill called 911 to report the incident, according to the lawsuit, and fire officials arrived at the scene around 5:20 p.m., with Denver police officer Thomas Ludwig arriving shortly after.
Upon his arrival, Ludwig did not address Hill and instead went to interview the driver and passenger of the other vehicle, who were both white, the lawsuit said. They told Ludwig that Hill was “aggressive” and blamed him for the accident, according to the lawsuit.
After speaking to the driver and passenger of the other car, Ludwig reportedly told fellow officer Gary Yampolsky that Hill was “being a d---,” even though he had not yet spoken to Hill, the lawsuit said.
Ludwig also told Yampolsky that Hill looked “like a turd,” the lawsuit said. Yampolsky’s comments can also be heard in body camera footage of the interaction shared by The Denver Post.
“It was a really weird experience because usually when you call the police you think that you’d have the chance to talk to them before you’re whisked away, grabbed up and put in the back of their vehicle,” Hill later told The Denver Post.
The Denver Police Department told McClatchy News that it would not comment on pending litigation. But Denver Public Safety spokeswoman Andrea Webber told The Denver Post that a review of body camera footage and other evidence “did not support the allegations of inappropriate force,” though she added that Ludwig’s language was “inappropriate.”
Webber also told The Denver Post that none of the officers faced formal discipline after the incident.
Hill was first taken to an ambulance, where he was evaluated for injuries. While he was away from his car, Ludwig looked through Hill’s car window and began searching the inside, the lawsuit said.
Hill asked Ludwig why he was searching his car and said he didn’t have a warrant, body camera footage shows, and Ludwig shouted that he smelled marijuana in the car. Hill began to respond as Ludwig told him to “back up” and “get out of my face,” the video shows.
He and Yampolsky then “restrained Mr. Hill, pushed him against the hood of his car and handcuffed him” without warning, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said that Hill did not resist the arrest, but that officers used “substantial force” during the encounter anyway.
In a probable cause statement obtained by KDVR, Yampolsky accused Hill of having “rocked his shoulders back in a fighting stance” and said the officers believed Hill was going to assault them.
Hill expressed his surprise at the arrest, asking what officers were doing, according to the lawsuit. Hill is seen responding while pointing in the officer’s face, while Ludwig tells him to “back up” and “get out of my face.” Ludwig is accused of responding by saying “What are you doing stepping to me, huh? Getting in my face? I don’t think so, dude.”
The officers then took Hill to a patrol car, and Yampolsky told Hill that he was “being an a------,” the video shows.
Ludwig then made Hill perform a field sobriety test, the lawsuit said. Hill had just been examined by the ambulance and was not intoxicated at the time, and Ludwig did not ask the ambulance staff if there was reason to believe he might have been, according to the lawsuit.
Hill was put into the patrol car.
“All I asked was for you to get out of my car,” he can be heard saying in the video, adding that he believed police were not legally searching his car.
Eventually, Yampolsky turned off his body camera, the lawsuit said. Hill told the officers that he was a university student and wanted to go home to finish his homework, and the officers are accused of telling him that they didn’t care what “cheap a-- college” he went to. They also said he was “spewing liberal bulls---,” the lawsuit said.
Another officer, Corporal Bart Stark, asked Hill if he had been injured during his encounter with Ludwig and Yampolsky. He told Hill that if he said he hadn’t been, the police would let him go, the video shows.
Stark did not offer any “legitimate, non-retaliatory reason” why Hill wouldn’t be released otherwise, according to the lawsuit, which called the comment “an unmistakable quid pro quo.”
Hill repeatedly said he needed to be examined by a doctor to know whether he was injured, and Stark responded by asking him repeatedly if he had been injured by the officers, the video shows.
The officers eventually took Hill to the Denver City Jail and detained him for 24 hours, the lawsuit said.
Hill was charged with interference with police authority, though the charge was later dismissed by the city attorney, the lawsuit said. Hill was evaluated at a hospital after his release and diagnosed with several injuries to his head, shoulder, arm and back, the lawsuit said. He also reportedly needed treatment for emotional distress.
In the lawsuit, Hill and his attorney accused the officers of conducting an unlawful warrantless search and seizure, as well as retaliation against Hill for exercising his First Amendment right to criticize the situation.
“As disturbing as this case is, it is not unique. Denver has a long history of racially profiling minority citizens and retaliating against citizens who criticize their conduct,” Hill’s attorney, Benjamin DeGolia, said in a statement provided to McClatchy News. “Rather than exercising restraint, Denver Police officers routinely respond with force and unlawful arrests, and then fabricate charges to cover up their illegal conduct.”
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