Photos: Officer John Adsit Critically Injured in Crash During East High's Ferguson Walk-Out

At this writing, Denver police Officer John Adsit is said to be in critical but stable condition after being injured in a crash while on crowd control duty for yesterday's East High School student walk-out, prompted by a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury's no-indictment decision in the shooting death of unarmed...

By Michael Roberts

December 4, 2014

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At this writing, Denver police Officer John Adsit is said to be in critical but stable condition after being injured in a crash while on crowd control duty for yesterday's East High School student walk-out, prompted by a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury's no-indictment decision in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Continue for the latest information about the accident, which also hurt three other Denver officers, as well as photos of the rally from our own Brandon Marshall.

Around 10 a.m., approximately 500 students walked out of East. Some demonstrators reportedly headed toward the State Captiol and the 16th Street Mall, while others wound up on Colfax, where East is located, blocking traffic at the Colfax-Broadway intersection.

Adsit was among a number of bike-patrol officers assigned to the march. Here's a Denver Police Department shot of the unit, as shared by CBS4....

...as well as DPD-supplied shots of Officer Adsit.... ...and Officer Darren Ulrich; he was also seriously hurt in the crash, which took place around noon. 7News was among the many news agencies on hand at the protest and grabbed this image of the black Mercedes that hit the officers near Colfax and High Street: The driver of the Mercedes hasn't been identified thus far, but he's said to have been suffering from a medical condition at the time of the collision.

Afterward, the DPD offered this background on the injured officers via its Twitter feed:

UPDATE: Officers injured were all assigned to #DPD District 6 Mall Unit, 3 have 9 years of service and 1 has 17 years. #Denver
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) December 3, 2014

Ulrich and the other two officers were treated and released from the hospital yesterday. However, Adsit is still being treated at Denver Health, where TV crews were camped out this morning. The DPD offered these tweets from his family about his situation early yesterday evening:

UPDATE/FAMILY STATEMENT: The family of Ofc John Adsit would like to thank you for your thoughts and prayers on behalf of Officer Adsit. 1/2
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) December 4, 2014

UPDATE 2/2: Pls continue to pray as we trust the Lord for a complete recovery.We ask for your respect for our privacy as we gather for John.
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) December 4, 2014

These messages were followed by a positive update:

UPDATE: our injured officer is coming out of surgery, he remains critical - but now stable! Thanks for all the positive thoughts!
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) December 4, 2014

Here are more of Brandon Marshall's photos from the protest, as well as a 7News report about the crash.

Continue for more photos from the East High School rally, as well as a video about the crash. Continue for more photos from the East High School rally, as well as a video about the crash. Here's the aforementioned 7News report.

Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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