In a city that has for decades seen a lot of stunning headlines, 2024 stood out.
This is a place where a man not too long ago pointed a gun at workers at a fast-food drive-thru because they refused to accept a baggie full of drugs as payment for his dinner.
It’s one of my very favorite newspaper stories ever.
After being chased down by cops and pulled from inside a bush he was sort of hiding in, cops asked if he was “hurt,” the Sentinel wrote months ago.
“Just my feelings,” the man said.
Real story. The man went to prison a few months ago.
Aurora is the place where normally made-up stuff is too often real.
There is no making up that “pistol-whipping” has made Aurora headlines, near and far, twice this year — so far.
I really thought pistol-whipping was just something that happened in lame TV crime shows.
Nope.
In April, a jury acquitted an Aurora police officer charged in 2021 with strangling and pistol-whipping an unarmed Black man during an arrest linked to a possible trespassing.
Aurora police Officer John Haubert, 39, resigned from the Aurora Police Department after the attack and was tried on charges of first-degree assault, second-degree assault, felony menacing, official oppression and first-degree official misconduct in connection with the arrest of 29-year-old Kyle Vinson.
Officer video cam footage of the assault was gruesome.
On July 23, 2021, Vinson and two other young men were accused of possibly trespassing as they hung out on an apartment complex median.
When cops arrived, the other two guys bolted. Haubert lit on Vinson, first yelling, then pointing a gun, and then bashing his head with it repeatedly, even though it appeared all Vinson did was cover his head and begged not to be killed.
Haubert’s police partner was found guilty last year of a recent state law requiring police to intervene when their partners pistol whip people or in some other way abuse them. She just watched.
But the jury that heard Haubert’s case apparently agreed with defense lawyers that Vinson deserved to be cracked in the head and face repeatedly, and that it was justifiable.
It was also justifiable to the jury that Haubert had his hands on Vinson’s neck for 40 seconds as he bashed him in the head with his gun more than a dozen times.
The Aurora police detective that investigated the pistol-whipping outlined for the jury what had happened.
“Haubert repeatedly threatened to shoot Vinson and told him to stop resisting, even though the detective determined: “It did not appear that Mr. Vinson had made any attempts to fight Officer Haubert.”
When police backup came, there was blood everywhere.
On another officer’s body cam, Haubert could be heard saying, “All that blood on him is from me f****** pistol-whipping him … I was wailing the f*** out of him,” according to Haubert’s arrest affidavit.
No making that stuff up. It’s all on the police video.
However, the jury said, “not guilty.”
Other than the jury not seeming to care, that ended pistol-whipping in Aurora — until last week.
Pistol-whipping is back in the Aurora headlines as the latest development amid the cacophony of crazy news coming out of northwest Aurora.
Two Venezuelan immigrants called police last week saying that they were kidnapped while walking into their apartment complex at the notorious Edge of Lowry slum, at East 12th Avenue and Dallas Street.
Then they were pistol-whipped by their kidnappers.
They escaped death via what police say are as many as 16 Venezuelan gangsters by doing some fast talking and promising not to call the cops, which they did after they were allowed to escape, police said.
Police said it was another horrific incident where immigrants commit crimes against fellow immigrants because they know the victims won’t call police for fear of being deported, or abused by the cops.
Within a couple of days of the news, the story evolved from what appeared to be an arbitrary home invasion to a dispute over a phone-video recording of two women fighting in the apartment complex parking lot.
The news about the attack was like tossing a bucket of gasoline on the already roaring controversy about Venezuelan immigrants and gang members in northwest Aurora.
City Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky and President-elect Donald Trump have been trying to persuade the world that parts of the city are gang-infested hell-holes, created by President Joe Biden. The allegation is that he personally invited millions of migrant murderers, thugs and rapists first to the United States, and then to Denver and Aurora. As the right-wing conspiracy unfolds, tens of thousands of Venezuelan thugs, mixed with a few Venezuelans who are not thugs or gang members, but who don’t belong here, were smuggled into Aurora by Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
You’re still with me, right?
The way the Trump and Jurinsky story goes, on Fox News, Fox and Friends and some local right-wing extremist radio shows, hordes of Venezuelan thugs were smuggled into three previously fabulous apartment complexes. Within a short time, the army of Tren de Aragua gangsters mobilized, told property managers to beat it and lured thousands of rats, mice, broken windows, roaches, tons of garbage and a plumbing zombie into the buildings. The once idyllic neighborhood in northwest Aurora was plunged into slum-ation, within a matter of days, maybe weeks.
Uh-huh.
There appears to be no memory or trace of the pre-Venezuelan gang members, hoodlums and crooks who have for decades shot at people and each other in the one-square-mile that makes up northwest Aurora.
None of that seemed to draw the attention outside of Aurora for decades, let alone outside of Colorado.
Suddenly slummy apartments are a critical problem in Aurora, as well as they should be.
And anyone who holds someone hostage and pistol whips them, an especially sadistic and monstrous act, truly needs to be arrested, charged, convicted and sent to prison for such a heinous crime, no matter who the pistol whipper is.
Wouldn’t you agree?
Follow @EditorDavePerry on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com
On the Haubert/Vinson matter there are two possibilities. The first is that the jury was comprised of sadists happy to ignore the law and the evidence. The second is that your summary of events is wholly inaccurate and biased. Its past time to let it go.
On Tren de Aragua, the recent kidnapping they committed, and crime in general in Original Aurora; it is time to acknowledge there is a problem beyond xenophobia. Just like after the Summer of Violence there was a problem and acknowledging that problem and committing resources to address that problem is not racist, it is obligatory on government to address the public safety crisis, a crisis which victimizes persons of color and immigrants more than any others. Addressing the crisis serves those communities. After the Summer of Violence the City put in place the Community Outreach Attorney, dedicated police officers addressing issues in multi-family housing, instituted a Multi-Family Housing Task force comprised of Police Command, City Council Members, A Deputy City Manager and the Director of Code Enforcement/Neighborhood Services. Those parties made partnerships with the State and Federal Authorities and applied for Weed and Seed grants to attack and ultimately remdiate problems in Motels and Apartments. Dave, you could look all this up in your archives though I imagine they are difficult to research for facts since all you publish is massively skewed opinion.
I guess this is what can happen when you need to justify your salary but have nothing to write about – the complete free association of disjointed events by resurrecting a story of police brutality from 4 years ago and somehow working in the weekly criticism of Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky. Well, in all fairness to our Councilwoman, a shoutout goes to her in that I believe she played a major role in the defeat of Kamala Harris for President by drawing attention to immigrant gang crime in Aurora and nationwide. Just think, our very own Councilwoman of little Aurora having a major impact in national politics. We thank you for your service Ms. Jurinsky.
Unbelievable. The Sentinel claims to be our protector of the truth due to their investigative diligence and honesty. They apparently pay absolutely no attention to anything that would stray from their radical left leaning. Obviously, no one cares to read it or there are no honest journalists who will pick up this story. First, let me repeat what I have said for the last couple years in the Sentinel. The detective, Ethan Snow, filed charges against the officers before he even picked up the business videotapes that showed a completely different picture than what the body cam videos showed. The initial statements by the officer of the fact that the suspect had grabbed his gun were totally ignored. There was no interview of the officers to get their side of things. The Chief, Vanessa Wilson, immediately condemned the officers without looking at the videos that would gave cleared them. She also said that she was going to have an expedited Internal Review done. I have been both a detective and a detective supervisor. I would never have allowed such an investigation to go forward against anyone. This is especially true with one of our own officers. Such a sloppy and dishonest investigation should never have been allowed by anyone in the detective’s chain of command. It smacks of a Chief who wanted to curry political favor by being seen as an enforcer who is protecting the public from a rogue cop. Further, her Internal Review by the Force Review Board, directed by Division Chief Juul, published a report that shows virtually no investigation and is full of untruthful statements and completely misrepresents the facts. I have repeatedly written in the Sentinel that there were videos taken from the nearby business that show that the suspect repeatedly grabbed at the officers gun before he was hit. Even if you just slow down the officer’s bodycam footage, you can see the suspects hand on the officer’s gun before he was hit. What follows is a three minute struggle during which the officer, Haubert, has to rip his gun out of the suspect’s hand. Even the detective’s affidavit admits that in the bodycam video, the suspect “swatted” at the officer’s gun twice before the was struck. The first jury, in the case of Officer Francine Martinez , for failure to intervene, was never shown the business videos. The most important evidence was not used due to a failure by her attorney to view the videos. She was then convicted of failure to intervene in excessive force that was later found not to be excessive in the trial of Officer John Haubert. So, how does that happen. It happened because the second jury got to see the business videos that Chief Vanessa Wilson, Detective Snow, and Division Chief Juul never released to anyone. The law says those videos should have been released to the public. Those videos were buried in the discovery material sent to Haubert’s attorneys. I found those videos and enlarged them to see what really happened. I have spoken to many in the APD and have found no one who has seen the business videos or who is even aware of their existence. I have gone into great depth in the past enumerating all of the discrepancies and dishonesty in the investigation in this case. I won’t do that here, again. I submitted packets to all of the Council Members that included a very detailed examination of the investigation and the Force Review Board report as part of an Internal Affairs Complaints that I filed against those involved. In those packets, I included the videos that no one has seen except the jury in Haubert’s case. Complete silence. No reply from Internal Affairs, no concern for the truth from the City Council or the City Manager. I have made it clear to the new Chief, Chamberlain , that I have filed an IAU complaint and that he has a dishonest Division Chief. The city paid the resisting felon $830,000 in the citizen’s money without looking at any of the facts. The detective ignored the drugs that he had on him at the time of the arrest. That felon is back in prison on other crimes. Sparing you the great details that I have put together, I will ask one question that no one will answer. In fact, they are trying to be quiet about until all their dishonesty is lost to time. How does a police investigation go forward ignoring the most important evidence in the whole investigation? How does a Force Review Board decide a use of force without looking at the most important videos in the case. I have the videos. The Sentinel knows from my prior comments that I have the videos. I have gone before Council and made clear that I have the videos. I have given them the videos. The Sentinel continues to smear an officer who was cleared by a jury that looked at the videos. Where is the Sentinel’s concern for accuracy or the truth when they don’t care to even look at a blatant example of the lies coming out of the City? How can they just ignore any facts and continue to spread lies? The lies aren’t even difficult to expose. Now, let us look at the supposed Consent Decree. How does the monitor of that decree let the complete failure of all of the review systems in the department go unaddressed? How does he have any credibility when he ignores the dishonesty in the system? Luckily for them, there seems to be little genuine concern for the truth or any real integrity.
My, my, my. So much anger, so much disgust. And the self-satisfaction that comes from claiming that Aurora is overrun by savages, and that only steadfast fascists, erm, REPUBLICANS, can save us.
As I said, I could go on in great detail about the Haubert case and the reasons that his force was justified. However, let me just explain a couple things that are mentioned in this editorial. First, the detective’s affidavit reads like someone who has absolutely no police experience. The wanted suspect, Vinson, began to resist at gunpoint. The detective admits that Vinson resisted arrest before he was hit. So, you have a wanted felony suspect with two other felony suspects whose warrants advise caution. The detective treats a resisting felony suspect swatting at an officer’s gun like it is inconsequential. In police work, when a suspect grabs for your gun, there are no longer any rules. You can poke out his eyes, shoot him, choke him, stab him with a knife, or anything to save your life and the life of your partner. The law makes it clear that any prohibition against the choke does not apply when you are in fear for your life. That was made clear by the legal advisor during their training on the new law. It is necessary to use one hand to keep him at arms
length when he is grabbing for your gun. Grabbing him by the throat was one of the only means available to Haubert. Threatening to shoot him was an effort to get him to comply so you don’t have to shoot him. The law requires you to give a warning before using deadly force, if possible. So, a detective makes a legal requirement and a tactical necessity sounds like something criminal. I have said all of this before. the Sentinel is tone deaf and will not treat this matter truthfully. I will try not to go into greater detail. Again, they Ate lucky no one treads this and no one in the City cares about justice, truth, honesty, or integrity.