DENVER (KDVR) — A Denver deputy will serve a 25-day suspension after a video obtained by the Problem Solvers shows him punching an inmate in the head 19 times on Sept. 15, 2021.
Deputy Michael Pablo was originally given a 42-day suspension for violating the department’s use-of-force policy. But he will be held in “abeyance” for 17 days, meaning if he has no further violations in the next two years he won’t have to serve the additional 17 days according to a copy of his July 13, discipline letter obtained by FOX31 through a public records request.
The punishment stems from an incident involving an inmate only identified by his initials JD.
JD had been arrested for attempted robbery when he was brought to the intake area of the downtown detention center and soon started expressing hostility toward Pablo telling him, “You’re the dirty pig, you’re the dirty Mexican,” later adding, “You all like to beat people don’t you?”
In the video, JD mostly cooperates with commands but after he’s fingerprinted, he looks toward Pablo and says “I ought to punch you straight in the face f– pig.”
Then he suddenly turns and punches the window of an isolated cell before four deputies tackle him to the ground.
It’s as the deputies tackle JD to the ground that surveillance video shows Pablo punching JD 19 times above the neck, which is a department violation unless a deputy is faced with deadly force.
According to Pablo’s disciplinary letter, “When presented with the same or similar circumstances, an objectively reasonable officer would not have continued to deliver strikes to JD’s head after JD’s arm was no longer near their throat.”
Pablo told internal affairs investigators he hit the inmate out of fear for his own safety after the inmate reached toward Pablo and another deputy’s neck and chest area.
After deputies left JD in the isolation cell he started banging his head on the door leading deputies to place him in a restraining chair to prevent him from injuring himself any further.
Pablo is an eight-year veteran of the Denver Sheriff Department with no prior violations.
Pablo began serving his suspension on July 27.
