Aurora police legal adviser Pete Schulte tabbed by city lawmakers as permanent city attorney

AURORA | The Aurora City Council has appointed the city’s legal police adviser as the new city attorney, city officials announced Friday.

Pete Schulte, chief legal adviser for the police department, replaces former City Attorney Dan Brotzman, who stepped down in June as the top official over the department’s 65 lawyers and legal staff.

“Pete is an excellent leader, a skilled mediator and a trusted lawyer,” Mayor Coffman said in a statement. “He has already helped our city navigate some of its toughest legal challenges over the last three years, and I have total confidence in his ability to lead one of the largest public law offices in Colorado.”

Schulte’s career spans nearly 20 years in law, beginning as a prosecutor in Texas. Before pursuing a career in law, Schulte was a police officer in Texas. He worked as an officer while attending law school full-time at Southern Methodist University, according to a city statement.

His transition into the legal profession saw him initially working for the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, before moving into private practice and founding a law firm.

During his private practice years, Schulte handled more than 100 criminal and civil jury trials.

He went on to serve on the Dallas Board of Adjustment and then the Dallas Planning Commission. In 2018, Schulte returned to public sector law as a police legal advisor, a position that eventually brought him to Aurora in 2021 following a national recruitment effort.

In Aurora, Schulte has overseen Aurora’s legal compliance with a state-mandated consent decree. The city is currently under that decree, requiring a host of police and fire reforms focused on reducing the use of excessive force, especially when encountering people of color. 

“I am honored that Mayor Coffman and the Aurora City Council have selected me to lead our talented team at the Aurora City Attorney’s Office,” Schulte said in a statement. “I am committed to transparency and being a good steward of our city’s public resources.”

Schulte’s tenure in the city so far hasn’t been without some controversy.

On April 15, 2023, Schulte was riding in a police vehicle with then-chief Art Acevedo when the two heard police radio traffic about a fight involving between 15 and 25 people near the Crossroads at City Center apartments in Aurora, according to an arrest affidavit.

When they arrived, they found a group screaming in Spanish who told them a woman had been injured, and one person pointed out two men running away as being involved in the fight. Schulte later told investigators that he told the men to stop, and that he was a police officer, before tackling one of them, Audiel Garcia-Contreras, to the ground.

As the two grappled with each other, Garcia-Contreras wrapped his arm around Schulte’s neck and choked him, while Schulte punched Garcia-Contreras. Officers eventually caught up with the two and arrested Garcia-Contreras, whom the affidavit described as intoxicated and smelling like alcoholic beverages.

Schulte was hospitalized with neck injuries. Garcia-Contreras pleaded guilty in April 2024 to assault charges related to the incident.

Early this year, Schulte was apparently poked but not provoked during an argument with Acevedo that got heated in January, saying the altercation captured on courthouse surveillance cameras was “nothing.”

“I didn’t think anything of it, just kind of went on my way,” Schulte said about a Jan. 12 row with Acevedo, caught on city video tape and reported by witnesses.”

Aurora Municipal Court hallway cameras showed Acevedo gripping the collar of Schulte’s suit jacket as the two men walk toward the courthouse’s rotunda on the morning of Jan. 12.

The two stop next to the rotunda, talking and gesturing at each other for about 20 seconds, before Acevedo appears to become frustrated with someone standing out of view of the cameras and moves on.

As the two enter the rotunda and are joined by then-interim deputy chief Heather Morris, other cameras show Acevedo becoming increasingly agitated while talking to Schulte.

Then, Acevedo appears to poke Schulte twice in the chest. Morris reacts to the first poke by folding her arms in front of her, while Schulte does not react. Acevedo then walks off, and the two follow the chief up a staircase.

Before leaving, the former chief waves toward a person who appears to have been photographing or recording the incident on their cell phone.

Schulte wouldn’t say what he and Acevedo were talking about that precipitated the poking but said it wasn’t uncommon for him and the chief to have similar “animated” interactions on the topic of public safety.

Both Schulte and Morris brushed off claims that the incident was anything more than an animated conversation.

Acevedo departed as interim police chief a few days later. 

City Council is slated to formally vote on Schulte’s contract at its Sept. 23 meeting.