"He's Being a Dick": Denver Cop Scolded for Language, Not Racist Policing

Keilon Hill, who was involved in a traffic accident in the spring of 2020, has filed a lawsuit against the City and County of Denver and three members of the Denver Police Department, claiming that their treatment of him was illegal and bore all the earmarks of excessive force and racial bias. Hill is Black; the three officers are white.

Citing pending litigation, the DPD declined to comment about the February 3 complaint, whose defendants include officers Thomas Ludwig and Gary Yampolsky, as well as Corporal Bart Stark. But Andrea Webber, records administrator for the Denver Department of Public Safety, stresses that while an internal-affairs inquiry into the matter found no evidence that inappropriate force had been used against Hill, supervisors did feel that some of Ludwig's language was inappropriate. Among other things, body-worn video caught the officer referring to Hill as "a dick" and dubbed his request to speak to a lawyer "liberal bullshit."

Ludwig's punishment? He was given a good talking-to.

On April 27, 2020, Hill was 25 and taking classes remotely through Louisiana State University (he has since earned a master's degree in business administration). He "was heading home on I-25 when he was in a minor car accident," says attorney Benjamin DeGolia of Denver-based Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC, part of the team that represents Hill. "He was in the middle lane, and a driver in the first lane tried to merge over and hit his car. Keilon ended up flagging the first driver down, moved to the shoulder, called 911 and told the dispatcher that he'd been in an accident."

Paramedics quickly arrived at the scene, and they were speaking to Hill, still seated in his car, when Ludwig rolled up. According to DeGolia, Ludwig "walked by Keilon's vehicle and got a glimpse of Mr. Hill, then kept walking — and he interviewed the two people in the other vehicle, who presented as white men. They told him Keilon had hit them trying to drive in between their vehicle and another vehicle. They portrayed him as a very hostile, aggressive person."

In the video, Ludwig can be heard telling Yampolsky that Hill "tried to thread the fucking needle between two lanes, dude, and he fucking side-swipes them, and he's being a dick." He also volunteered that Hill "looks like a turd." At that point, he had yet to interview Hill.

"I think there's a pretty clear racial undertone in his general perception," DeGolia says. "He just accepts the version of events from the white driver without even speaking to Keilon."

After Hill left his car to be checked out by the ambulance crew, he noticed "Officer Ludwig opening up his door and starting to look for contraband," DeGolia continues. "No warrant had been issued, and there was no reason to believe at that time that Keilon had engaged in criminal activity. Seeing that, Keilon said, 'Hey, you can't search my car. You don't have a warrant.' But Officer Ludwig, even though he could see Keilon was visibly upset, didn't try to de-escalate the situation. He got right in Keilon's face, then twists his arm behind his back using a hyper-flexing wrist lock, which is a pain compliance technique, even though Keilon wasn't resisting in any way, and placed him under arrest."

Hill "was in disbelief," DeGolia says, "asking, 'What's going on? Why am I under arrest?' And Officer Yampolsky says, 'You're being an asshole to everybody.'"

When Hill was placed in the back of a squad car, Ludwig and Yampolsky "turned off their body-worn cameras, which is against Denver policy; it explicitly says the cameras aren't supposed to be turned off while an interaction is ongoing," DeGolia explains. "So they didn't capture what I would call continued harassment of Keilon. He tells them he's a graduate student and he has an exam to take and he wants to speak to a lawyer, and they say they don't care what 'cheap-ass college' he goes to and complain about him 'spewing liberal bullshit.'"

Corporal Stark demanded that Keilon answer the question of whether Ludwig had injured him during the arrest. According to DeGolia, "Keilon tells him, 'Sir, I was just in a car accident. I can't tell if I'm injured. I need to be evaluated by a doctor.' But Corporal Stark just repeated the same thing at least six times. He said, 'If you tell me you're not injured, nothing has happened and you can drive away.' If you tell me you're injured, something else is going to happen.'"

Stark was as good as his word. "They fabricated some charge of interference to justify their unlawful actions," DeGolia alleges. "Keilon ended up being taken to jail, where he repeatedly asked to be evaluated by a doctor, but that never happened. He ended up spending the night in custody, after which he was able to post bond. And the interference penalty was later dropped."

Here's body-worn camera footage from Officer Ludwig:
Here's body-worn camera footage from Corporal Stark:
Finally, body-worn camera footage from Officer Yampolsky:
Two days after his release from jail, Hill went to St. Joseph's Hospital for a medical examination and was "diagnosed with a closed head injury, cervical strain, strain of the thoracic region, a right shoulder injury, and paresthesia of his right upper limb," the lawsuit states.

On May 13, 2020, Hill filed a complaint against the officers with the DPD. On July 20 of that year, he was told that no action would be taken against them.

"A complaint was received and reviewed by the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Denver Police Department," Public Safety's Webber says. "A review of the evidence in the case, including the body-worn camera video, did not support the allegations of inappropriate force. However, the Department recognized the language used by Officer Ludwig was inappropriate and he was counseled and reminded to maintain his professionalism during the course of his duties. ... This case was reviewed by the Denver District Attorney and was declined for further charges."

After that, Hill decided to file suit.

"It's really hard to imagine that a person in Keilon's situation who was not a person of color would have been treated in the same way," DeGolia says. "And this is nothing new. Long before the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020, Denver had a long history of racially biased policing, and/or retaliating against citizens who criticize their conduct. That's why Keilon decided to stand up and pursue justice in this case. He's trying to force Denver to take more seriously its deep cultural problems with racial bias and retaliatory policing."

One more thing: As Hill was being taken to jail, the two men in the other car were allowed to drive away — and no one was held responsible for the accident.

Click to read Keilon Hill v. City and County of Denver, et al., the Keilon Hill probable-cause statement, and the Keilon Hill internal-affairs letter.