Colorado Springs Police Department
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The City of Colorado Springs has agreed to pay $175,000 and institute policy changes to settle a lawsuit filed by Celia Palmer against Colorado Springs Police Officer Keith Wrede, who was accused of roughing her up without provocation during a 2020 racial-justice protest.
According to attorney Andrew McNulty of Denver-based Killmer, Lane & Newman LLP, who represents Palmer as well as Michael Acker, an injured protester paid $500,000 last week by the City of Denver to settle a separate complaint, the deal “brings some semblance of justice to Ms. Palmer, who was brutalized for no reason.”
Wrede, one of three defendants in the lawsuit, along with fellow Colorado Springs Police Officer Wesley Woodworth and the City of Colorado Springs, had already made headlines in 2020 after posting “KILL THEM ALL” regarding Black Lives Matters protesters under a pseudonym. That this action only earned Wrede a one-week suspension was infuriating to McNulty. As he told us last year after filing Palmer’s suit, Wrede “was acting out exactly what he was saying on social media about Black Lives Matter protesters. He wrote ‘KILL THEM ALL’ about folks peacefully demonstrating to hold police officers accountable for the violence they’ve perpetrated on communities of color, and then he acted on those exact thoughts in regard to my client.”
Palmer, a Colorado College graduate, took part in a June 2, 2020, demonstration sparked by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. At 10:43 p.m., police ordered the crowd, which had conducted a peaceful march through downtown Colorado Springs, to disperse, and Palmer complied, walking away from the area.
According to the suit, Palmer was near the intersection of South Nevada Avenue and East Cimarron Street when she and a friend witnessed what her complaint describes as “a CSPD officer harassing a young Black man.” She kept her distance from the altercation, but her friend took a step closer and was hit with a blast of pepper spray that also affected Palmer; the two were confused and somewhat incapacitated as they moved toward their vehicle.
At that point, Wrede, with Woodworth in tow, “purposefully ambushed Ms. Palmer and her friend, tackling both from behind without any warning whatsoever. The force of Defendant Wrede’s tackle slammed Ms. Palmer to the ground and her head bounced off the pavement. Ms. Palmer went limp and was completely within Defendant Wrede’s control.” Woodworth is said to have “jumped on Ms. Palmer and grabbed her by the hair. Defendant Woodworth jerked Ms. Palmer’s head around using her hair and slammed it against the ground. The force used to pull Ms. Palmer’s hair would cause a clump of it to fall out later.”
Palmer was arrested and charged with obstruction for allegedly failing to disperse, but the matter was eventually dropped. There is no body-camera footage of the incident; the lawsuit notes that “both Defendants made the affirmative decision not to activate their body-worn cameras until after using grossly excessive force against Ms. Palmer. This was not the first time that Defendant Wrede had chosen not to activate his body-worn camera so as to cover up his brutalization of protesters. The day prior, Defendant Wrede used excessive force against a Black Lives Matter protester. Defendant Wrede chose not to turn on his body-worn camera during this use of force, too.”
Nonetheless, Wrede wasn’t disciplined by the Colorado Springs Police Department for the way he treated Palmer or the other protester; his only punishment was connected to the “KILL THEM ALL” post.
McNulty has predicted that settlements from excessive police force during the 2020 protests in Colorado could land in the $25-$50 million range; an estimated fifty-plus lawsuits have been filed. But Palmer earned something beyond cash. The settlement calls for the following language to be added to Colorado Springs Police Department policies by March 1, 2022:
• Dispersal warnings are mandatory, prior to utilizing less lethal tools or force to disperse a crowd.
• Prior to using force, an officer shall identify himself or herself as a peace officer. The officer shall give a clear verbal warning of their intent to use force. If the warning is related to deadly force, the officer will specifically warn of the impending use of firearms or other deadly physical force, if possible. A warning must be given with sufficient time for the warning to be observed. The officer is not required to give this warning when doing so would unduly place officers at risk of injury and/or would create a risk of death or injury to other persons. When a warning cannot be given in a situation where force is used, the officer will document the reasons why in the case report.
Westword has asked the City of Colorado Springs for a comment about the settlement. Click to read the Keith Wrede settlement agreement and Celia Palmer v. Keith Wrede, et al.
