Opponents of Colorado Springs Ballot Measure 2A gathered at City Hall Monday night for a rally against the measure before the evening’s City Council meeting. The measure would allow the city to retain $4.75 million in municipal tax revenue, which otherwise would have to be refunded to residents per TABOR, “for the purpose of acquiring property, planning, constructing, and equipping a training facility for the Colorado Springs Police Department.” Opponents of the measure, organized by the Chinook Center, a community hub in Southeast Colorado Springs, are concerned about the lack of community oversight and transparency for CSPD.
“We’ve been fighting this since 2019, since a good friend of mine, De’Von Bailey, got shot in the back by CSPD,” said Chauncey Johnson, a community organizer. “At first we were asking for oversight, ensuring that we could hold these police accountable. They said no. What they gave us was a lame duck committee, which is the Law Enforcement Transparency and Accountability Committee, and it’s B.S. It has no teeth, it’s just advisement.”
Speakers at the rally, like Summer Peterson, whose brother, Benjamin Annaboli, was killed by CSPD in August, raised concerns about repeated lawsuits involving CSPD and excessive use of force.
“These police are killing people,” said Charles Johnson, Chauncey’s brother. “It’s ridiculous.”
CSPD has settled a number of lawsuits alleging excessive force stemming from the June, 2020 protests following the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. In September, 2022, the Colorado Springs City Council approved a settlement of at least $100,000 to Tara Hadam, after CSPD officers “repeatedly sprayed her directly in the face with extremely painful noxious chemical sprays” while “Ms. Hadam stood with her hands held high in the air in front of a line of CSPD officers in full riot gear” during a June 2, 2020 protest, according to her civil complaint.
In February, 2022 Colorado Springs agreed to pay $175,000 to Celia Palmer, who was ambushed, tackled, and slammed to the ground by officers shortly after the incident involving Hadam. One of the officers named in Palmer’s lawsuit, Keith Wrede, was disciplined for commenting “kill ‘em all” on a Facebook livestream during a June. 30, 2020 protest that blocked Interstate 25 in Colorado Springs.
In December, 2022, attorneys representing Dalvin Gadson announced a federal lawsuit against three CSPD Officers, stemming from an Oct. 9 traffic stop in which Gadson sustained a black eye, back injuries, chest wall contusions, an abrasion to the right side of his back, and a closed head injury. Earlier this month, the United States Department of Justice got involved, referring the incident for criminal investigation.
“One year later, [CSPD Chief Adrian Vasquez] still refuses to hold his officers accountable after they beat and bloodied an unarmed man over a license tag infraction,” said civil rights attorney Harry Daniels in an Oct. 9 news release. “Today we are confident that the Department of Justice will begin to correct that injustice and do what he won’t.”
In August, the ACLU announced a lawsuit against Colorado Springs over the arrest and search of activist Jacqueline Armendariz Unzueta during a July 31, 2021 protest. The Chinook Center is also a plaintiff. The lawsuit alleges the City of Colorado Springs and its officers obtained unjustified search warrants for the private Facebook messages of the Chinook Center and all of Ms. Armendariz Unzueta’s personal devices, including her cell phone, laptop, and external hard drives. According to the ACLU, the warrants failed to comply with foundational constitutional requirements intended to safeguard privacy.
The events behind the ACLU lawsuit are connected to the FBI’s involvement in investigating and surveilling protesters and organizers, which was documented in journalist Trevor Aaronson’s podcast, Alphabet Boys. Aaronson details the role Michael “Mickey” Windecker, an FBI informant, played in Denver’s racial justice protests during the summer of 2020. Windecker was paid over $20,000 during the summer of 2020. The money expended on Windecker resulted in one conviction, after Windecker, a felon, convinced activist Zebb Hall to buy him a gun. Windecker was also involved in the events that led to activist Bryce Shelby to lose his firearms under Colorado’s red flag law after discussing plans to kill Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser — whom, recordings reveal, Shelby repeatedly confused with the Denver District Attorney.
Colorado Springs City Councilor Nancy Henjum supports Measure 2A, and says the new facility would help address some of the community’s concerns. “I actually am in favor of 2A, and I do think that we need the training center,” she said. “I think it’s what happens in the training center that we need to be focusing on. I know people want public safety. Everybody wants public safety. I believe that by focusing on what happens inside the training center, which needs to be more community-focused, community-based policing, de-escalation, de-escalation training, working with people so that we don’t have to use weapons. I think those are the kinds of things that need to happen in the training center, and that’s why I’m for it, but I totally respect the position they’re taking and I understand why they are. I disagree, but I want them to be a part of what happens.”
