DENVER (KDVR) — It was absolutely the “worst night” of her life.
That is how a preschool teacher from Parker describes surviving a police shooting in Downtown Denver over the summer. Angelica Rey is the latest victim to come forward to talk about what happened that night, along with her attorney, who plans to file a civil lawsuit.
“It was the worst night of my life. It was because I could have died out there. I lost so much blood, it was bad,” Rey said, fighting back tears in an emotional recollection of the night she was shot.
On Tuesday, Rey described the night she was shot in the officer-involved shooting in Lower Downtown this summer. She showed city surveillance video that shows her going down.
“At that point, I was just sitting on the floor and my friend was trying to help me. We were trying to wait for somebody, for help from somebody. And then they finally came and put a tourniquet on me,” Rey said.
‘She thought I was going to die’
She said she and a friend were trying to move away from a fight on a sidewalk near 20th and Larimer streets. That’s where police confronted a man who they say was involved in a disturbance and was carrying a gun.
The next thing Rey knew, there were gunshots on that mid-July night. Then a bullet tore through her leg. An artery was nicked. Some nerves had been severed.
“My friend said I was sitting on the floor and at one point my eyes rolled in the back of my head and I started convulsing on the floor, and at that point, she thought I was going to die,” Rey said.
Rey, who was out celebrating her promotion as a lead teacher at a pre-school in Parker, was one of six people hit. Her attorney, Anthony Viorst, said he now plans to file a civil lawsuit on her behalf.
“These police officers, whether they were in fear for their safety or not, were shooting willy-nilly into a crowd. There were six shots fired. One of them hit the suspect. Five hit innocent pedestrians, and that is unacceptable,” Viorst said.
Viorst said the officers’ actions were thoughtless, dangerous and reckless. Attorneys for other victims made similar allegations.
Rey said the wound has left her walking with a crutch and limp. A GoFundMe was put together by her family.
“They should have been more aware of their surroundings because there were so many people that they should have known not to shoot,” Rey said.
Rey is not sure if and when she’ll be able to get back to her job as a teacher. Her attorney is now waiting for the names of the officers before he files the lawsuit.
A grand jury is investigating the police shooting.