AURORA | A Denver man has pleaded guilty to choking an Aurora City Attorney’s Office employee and police officer who along with the city’s police chief responded to a brawl-in-progress at an apartment complex last year.
On April 15, 2023, Pete Schulte, a police officer and public safety client manager for the Aurora City Attorney’s Office, 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, who spoke with investigators from a hospital bed with his neck immobilized in a brace, said he believed Garcia-Contreras was trying to kill him and that the chokehold prevented him from breathing and lasted for what “felt like an eternity.” A doctor at the Medical Center of Aurora evaluated Schulte and told police he had suffered a serious bodily injury.
On April 5, Garcia-Contreras pleaded guilty to second-degree assault by strangulation, downgraded from first-degree assault. Charges of assault on a peace officer, obstructing a peace officer and third-degree assault knowingly or recklessly causing injury were dropped.
The city said in a statement that, while Schulte’s primary role is providing legal guidance to the Aurora Police Department, he previously worked as a police officer in Texas and is certified by the Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training Board to work as an officer in Colorado. For this reason, Schulte accompanied Acevedo on patrols for a period of time in 2023, the city said.
“Our officers are committed to serving and protecting our community,” interim police chief Heather Morris said in the statement. “It is completely unacceptable for anyone to perpetrate harm against any peace officer trying to keep our community safe.”
Garcia-Contreras’ sentencing is scheduled to take place May 2.
I seriously doubt he went through the same training all other lateral police officers in Aurora are required to do. He should not have been allowed to wear a uniform and represent himself as an officer. Amazing how the rules only apply to some people.
Oh Lord, you must be another former (or probably current!) redneck APD officer who thinks no one who hasn’t gone through the “Aurora academy” can be an Aurora police officer. Get over yourself. You are part of the reason that department is so screwed up. If he hadn’t had the right training, how would he have been POST certified?
This whole deal was humorous. Chief Acevedo refused to write a report about the incident and they were unfriendly toward the investigator who told him it was policy. Acevedo reportedly told them that he would have to change the policy. It its good to be king.
Schulte violated Inspector Harry Callahan’s rule, he did not know his limitations.
The lack of judgment here by Mr. Schulte is staggering, as is the lack of inquisitiveness by the reporter. Mr. Schulte was not hired to be a police officer. on the night in question he would not have been equiped as an officer with a ballistic vest, handgun, tazer, and cuffs and so was unprepared and unequiped to make an arrest. Being so ill-equiped he endangered his life, the life of the suspect, and the lifes of others at the scene, both civilian and actual officers. His wanting to play cop, wanting to relive former days to impress the Chief is childish and ill-considered. As for the Sentinel I cannot believe they did not follow up on the obvious obfuscation that Mr. Schulte’s “primary” responsibility is legal advising. That is his only responsibility. No where in a job description do his duties include police patrol and making arrests. The Sentinel bit uncritically on that line of horse manure the City was selling to try to make this seem like it was responsible intervention rather than what it was, foolish, reckless, and an ego trip for a former cop so he could feel like one of the boys with the Chief. It strikes me that a legal advisor ought to have far better judgment. We have seen this man in conflict with the former interim Chief in the Courthouse, we have sen him stand next to the former Chief to lend his “credibility” to press conferences as to the appropriateness of the use of deadly force against minors. With the Department under a consent decree it may be time to ask if a person with such poor judgment is the right person to be advising the Department and the City on public safety issues.
Jurinsky loves this guy so he will never be in trouble for participating in a stop he shouldn’t have. Besides that she’s going to vote to give him a huge settlement. It’s sickening.
The bad guy is the man who was involved in a large-scale disturbance, ran from police, and choked a person so severely that he ended up in the hospital. It is disgusting when people want to make law enforcement out to be the problem.