AURORA, CO — Seeking a bank robbery suspect with no description of the culprit, police barricaded an intersection, ordered dozens of people out of their cars at gunpoint, handcuffed every adult, and performed a warrantless search of all vehicles in the perimeter.
The incident occurred on June 2nd, 2012. New details are being revealed nearly 2 years later in joint federal lawsuit being filed on behalf of 14 people.
“We didn’t have a description, didn’t know race or gender or anything, so a split-second decision was made to stop all the cars at that intersection, and search for the armed robber,” Aurora police officer Frank Fania said.
“Nonetheless, the officers demanded that all vehicle occupants hold their arms up and outside of their vehicle windows,” the lawsuit states, adding that motorists were not even permitted to “shut off their vehicle’s ignition, put their vehicle in park, or lift their parking brakes.”
Those caught up in the dragnet were “detained, removed, searched, restrained — and terrified,” according to the lawsuit.
“They got behind shields. They had M-4′s, shotguns out; taser guns, everything,” said witness Ben Barker to ABC-7 News.
“They brandished shields and pointed assault rifles directly at innocent citizens, including children under ten years old. Officers with police dogs were at the ready. No one was free to leave,” the lawsuit says.
“Officers, weapons still drawn, proceeded to each vehicle,” the lawsuit states. Cops paid particular attention to those who appeared “overly nervous or anxious.”
The meticulous vehicle-to-vehicle search lasted 2 hours, “despite having no probable cause or reasonable suspicion that any particular individual had committed any offense.” All the while, people were left shackled and corralled helplessly on the sidewalk.
Tim Olson, a Denver mechanic, was one of those drivers trapped in the police dragnet. He told FOX-31, “Suddenly there was a police officer straight ahead, takes a shotgun or rifle and aims my direction. You know never having been in that situation before it was extremely confusing, extremely intimidating.”
During the long detainment, Mr. Olson had difficulty kneeling on the hard sidewalk, and fell “face forward onto the pavement,” according to the lawsuit, as an officer “continued to scream at Mr. Olson to [kneel] while waving his shotgun near Mr. Olson’s face.”
“I was telling the officer ‘you’re hurting me. Let go,”" Olson remembered. “They said ‘quit resisting.’”
Colorado police cuff, search dozens of innocent people at gunpoint in frenzied manhunt | Police State USA
The incident occurred on June 2nd, 2012. New details are being revealed nearly 2 years later in joint federal lawsuit being filed on behalf of 14 people.
“We didn’t have a description, didn’t know race or gender or anything, so a split-second decision was made to stop all the cars at that intersection, and search for the armed robber,” Aurora police officer Frank Fania said.
“Nonetheless, the officers demanded that all vehicle occupants hold their arms up and outside of their vehicle windows,” the lawsuit states, adding that motorists were not even permitted to “shut off their vehicle’s ignition, put their vehicle in park, or lift their parking brakes.”
Those caught up in the dragnet were “detained, removed, searched, restrained — and terrified,” according to the lawsuit.
“They got behind shields. They had M-4′s, shotguns out; taser guns, everything,” said witness Ben Barker to ABC-7 News.
“They brandished shields and pointed assault rifles directly at innocent citizens, including children under ten years old. Officers with police dogs were at the ready. No one was free to leave,” the lawsuit says.
“Officers, weapons still drawn, proceeded to each vehicle,” the lawsuit states. Cops paid particular attention to those who appeared “overly nervous or anxious.”
The meticulous vehicle-to-vehicle search lasted 2 hours, “despite having no probable cause or reasonable suspicion that any particular individual had committed any offense.” All the while, people were left shackled and corralled helplessly on the sidewalk.
Tim Olson, a Denver mechanic, was one of those drivers trapped in the police dragnet. He told FOX-31, “Suddenly there was a police officer straight ahead, takes a shotgun or rifle and aims my direction. You know never having been in that situation before it was extremely confusing, extremely intimidating.”
During the long detainment, Mr. Olson had difficulty kneeling on the hard sidewalk, and fell “face forward onto the pavement,” according to the lawsuit, as an officer “continued to scream at Mr. Olson to [kneel] while waving his shotgun near Mr. Olson’s face.”
“I was telling the officer ‘you’re hurting me. Let go,”" Olson remembered. “They said ‘quit resisting.’”
Colorado police cuff, search dozens of innocent people at gunpoint in frenzied manhunt | Police State USA
