Denver police officers Ricky Nixon and Kevin Devine, fired
for their actions in the 2009 Denver Diner case, aren't going quietly. Nixon
filed a lawsuit against the city prior to his dismissal, claiming that forcing
him to give up his gun and work the radar unit violated his civil rights. And
Devine wrote a resignation letter that was apparently sent just prior to his
sacking, blistering the DPD as "vinidictive and self-center" -- two
of many spelling and grammatical errors evident in the text. Read the entire
document and get details below.
In July 2009, Kelly Boren, Sharelle Thomas, Ana Ortega and
Kristal Carrillo were at the restaurant when they say Denver police officers
Nixon and Devine menaced them with nightsticks, pulled or shoved a number of
them to the ground and sprayed them with mace despite no compelling evidence of
actual wrongdoing caught on video by a nearby HALO camera.
Although DPD investigations cleared Nixon and Devine of
wrongdoing, they were subsequently fired, only to be reinstated by the Civil
Service Commission. Finally, however, a court ruling upheld their dismissals,
after which their positions were terminated within days of Boren, Thomas, Ortega
and Carrillo receiving a $360,000 settlement in the matter.
By that point, Devine was fed up with the DPD, as evidenced
by the aforementioned letter, sent to Police Chief Robert White and first
obtained by CBS4's Brian Maass. The document doesn't show many signs of
proofreading, as it misspells the name of Deputy Chief David Quinones, among
other things. It begins like so:
"I cannot in good conscious [sic] continue to work for
a Department that allows its senior chain of command to be so vinidictive [sic]
and self -center [sic] as to use its officers as political stepping- stone for
advancement. I find Deputy Chief Quinnoes's [sic] actions on this matter most
disgraceful. How was he able to determine facts that others did not still
amazes me."
Here's the complete letter.
