‘Police brutality is the rule’

FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together) organizer Larry Hales was the victim of police brutality in Denver on April 15. Below are excerpts from an interview with Workers World reporter LeiLani Dowell.

Larry Hales speaks at anti-war rally. Photo: Ric Urrutia

WW: What happened on April 15?

LH: I got into a phone argument with the owner of a restaurant regarding an unauthorized credit card transaction. Later the cops arrived at my house. When I asserted my rights, they screamed and threatened me with arrest. One cop went to see if I had a warrant, which I figured I didn’t.

Another cop clasped my wrists behind my back. When the first returned, I was told I was under arrest and put in cuffs. One cop looped his arm under my left arm while another pulled in the opposite direction, creating extreme pressure on my wrists.

Nobody read me my rights. I told one cop his behavior was unnecessary and abusive, that I had known of no warrants against me, and that I thought he was violating my rights. He shoved me up against the door of the car, hit me in my midsection and pushed me, hitting my head on the entrance to the car. He then threw me in, and missed shutting my head in the door by a few inches.

Once I was in the car they showed me the warrant, which was from a coffeehouse I had worked at that filed trumped-up charges against me for organizing workers. (See www.workers.org/ww/2004/hales1216.php)

The warrant was issued then, but I was not notified about it. It was used so the company could get a restraining order, barring me from over 20 Burger Kings and coffeehouses they own. That order was thrown out by a judge.

What were conditions like in the jail?

I was put in Denver City Jail and sentenced the next day to three days in jail.

The conditions are indescribable. In cells built for one person, three people were crammed, and four in the two-person cells. It is a 23-hour lockdown and the lights are always on, with leaking toilets that reek of urine and feces. People sleep on the floor on thin mats. Many are there for small bond issues, but don’t have money to post bond.

I pled guilty because I had no sleep and was shaken up by the abuse, worried about my partner, and don’t have much money. Atty. Mark Burton is fighting to have my guilty plea withdrawn and get the other charge from the coffee shop dropped.

Has this police harassment happened to you before? Do you think you’re being targeted?

Once a cop followed me into my apartment building, questioning what I was doing. When I refused to answer, the cop called backup, pushed me against the wall and searched me, and eventually woke up my landlord to verify my address.

I was also harassed at a “community meeting” of cops, landlords and business owners that wanted to “wage a war against drugs” by pushing homeless people out and profiling people of color.

Some other activists and victims of police brutality think the police are targeting me, along with other activists, but I don’t know. The Denver police do have spy files on activists that have been compiled since the early 1980s.

I think what it shows is that the Denver cops have no regard for people’s rights. What happened to me is the general rule and not the exception. They have a racist mentality and a history of brutal tactics and killings of unarmed people.

The police and city officials released statistics that show an increase of crime, but arrests are up and the jails are filled to the brim. The city is now building a $600 million jail, while closing down three schools. There are no housing solutions for over 11,000 people.