Listen to this articleTwo Denver police officers were fired on Friday for their involvement in the beating of a gay man in 2009. The incident was captured on a surveillance camera, but the officers denied the incident in an internal investigation.
The officers claimed that the man was belligerent and needed to be subdued. But the video surveillance shows the victim, Michael DeHerrera, simply talking on a cell phone when an officer attacks him and throws him to the ground. The officer then uses a sap, a metal rod wrapped in leather, to beat DeHerrera.
Mayor Guillermo Vidal and Manager of Safety Charles Garcia announced the firing and said that the incident did immeasurable harm to the department.
