A Denver sheriff’s deputy might be suspended for at the very least 10 days for punching an inmate within the face throughout an altercation on the Downtown Detention Middle in November 2022.
Deputy Diego Villalpando-Hernandez is receiving a lesser penalty for utilizing inappropriate drive as a result of he expressed regret and realized from the expertise, in response to a call letter issued by the Denver Division of Public Security in August.
Villalpando-Hernandez was making an attempt to lock down an inmate, referred to within the choice letter as JS, on Nov. 9, 2022, when the inmate started performing aggressively towards him and adopting a “preventing stance,” in response to witness statements.
Villalpando-Hernandez then additionally took a preventing stance and hit JS as soon as within the face earlier than they went to the bottom and the inmate was detained by Villalpando-Hernandez and different deputies.
Villalpando-Hernandez might be suspended for 10 days in September and October, with a further eight-day suspension held off for one yr. The suspended suspension is predicated on Villalpando-Hernandez agreeing to not attraction the suspension or disciplinary findings and never have any misconduct leading to “sustained self-discipline” for one yr, in response to the division.
Villalpando-Hernandez’s statements to division and metropolis officers throughout disciplinary conferences are quoted within the letter, together with that it was not his intention to make use of drive and on the time he felt just like the inmate’s actions dictated his response.
“I’m at all times prepared to simply accept accountability and have the ability to get taught by my errors in my profession and life,” Villalpando-Hernandez stated in a gathering with metropolis officers.
Villalpando-Hernandez was beforehand suspended for 11 days in 2018 for feigning sickness and “conduct prejudicial,” in response to the choice letter, and for 3 days in 2020 for violating the division’s rule on “Respect for Fellow Deputies and Workers.”
Conduct prejudicial is a time period within the Denver Sheriff’s Division discipline handbook that refers to conduct that’s unbecoming or that compromises the integrity of the division or metropolis.
Based mostly on earlier misconduct, Villalpando-Hernandez’s suspension may have ranged from 18-42 days relying on the severity of his subsequent offense.
However Denver Public Security’s civilian evaluation administrator discovered that Villalpando-Hernandez acknowledging his mistake, expressing regret and articulating how he realized from the expertise and improved himself have been “mitigating features” that justified the lesser penalty.
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