Denver Sheriff Deputies in dress uniform.
The investigation is wide-ranging and involves both the interim head of the Denver Sheriff Department
and the
captain in charge of Internal Affairs:
“This is the definition of corruption,” said Brent Miller, who believes the sheriffs department fired him earlier this month for refusing to destroy the tape. Miller worked for the Adams County Sheriff’s Office for nearly 26 years before retiring. He then agreed to go to work for the Denver Sheriff Department as a civilian internal affairs investigator, brought on to help clear up a backlog of internal affairs cases.
The evidence Miller says he was ordered to destroy was video from the Denver Health Medical Center, where hospital officials were so appalled at the humiliating treatment of a prisoner at the hands of deputies, they filed a complaint:
Miller said he was assigned to investigate several complaints filed by jail inmate Christopher Colbruno. Earlier this month, he was assigned yet another case involving Colbruno. Sheriff’s deputies were transporting Colbruno to Denver Health Medical Center for medical attention, but at some point Colbruno defecated on himself and his jail clothing. Before entering the hospital , deputies removed Colbruno’s clothing and walked him through hospital hallways wearing only handcuffs, but no clothing.
CBS4 asked Miller a second time to recount what he was told by Capt. Ortega, “He told me don’t upload it they’re making it go away. Who is they? He said the sheriff then told me to get rid of the video. Do not upload it get rid of the video and I immediately told him that’s not ethical to get rid of evidence in a case.”
Miller was fired the next day. We've said this far too often lately, but perhaps this is yet another police department that needs a top-down review by the Department of Justice.
See an interview with Bruce Miller here.