The Taste of Ethiopia festival at Parkfield Lake Park in Denver on Aug. 4, 2024. Colorado’s Taste of Ethiopia Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary with an extended two-day event on Aug. 3 and 4, 2024.

This special anniversary edition of Colorado’s Taste of Ethiopia Festival offered a unique opportunity to explore the rich heritage and vibrant traditions of Ethiopia. A wide array of traditional Ethiopian foods, collectibles, clothing and music and dance presentations were the highlights of the weekend long festivities.

The event is organized by The Taste of Ethiopia Heritage Foundation which is a non-profit organization, was established for cultural, educational, and charitable purposes. This includes promoting and preserving Ethiopian heritage, supporting educational initiatives, and organizing the Taste of Ethiopia Festival to celebrate Ethiopian culture, which has been present in Colorado for over half a century.

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A police recruit who had to have both of his legs amputated after losing consciousness and repeatedly collapsing during fight training at Denver’s police academy is suing those who allegedly forced him to continue the “barbaric hazing ritual” after paramedics ignored warning signs.

Victor Moses, 29, alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that aggressive officers knocked him down multiple times in the second round of “fight day” last year, with one of them shoving him off the mat and causing him to hit his head on the floor. He said he was pressured to continue, with officers picking him up and setting him back on his feet, before paramedics standing by were asked to check him out, the lawsuit said.

Moses told them he had the sickle cell trait, which puts him at an increased risk of medical complications from high-intensity exercise. He also said he had very low blood pressure and complained that his legs were cramping, according to the lawsuit. The symptoms are danger signs for people with his condition.

Nevertheless, paramedics cleared Moses to return to training, which the suit alleges was a decision made to support the police.

The type of training described in the lawsuit is common in the United States and helps prepare recruits for scenarios they could face on patrol, said Ian Adams, an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina. Minor injuries are common and occasionally recruits die, often because of an underlying medical condition, he said.

Both the Denver Police Department and Denver Health, the public hospital that employed the paramedics, declined to comment on the allegations, saying they could not address pending litigation.

“Safety and well-being is a top priority for Denver Health and its paramedics,” the hospital said in a statement.

A telephone call and email seeking comment was also left with the city attorney’s office.

All recruits must complete the training to prepare them physically and mentally for fights they could encounter on the street. It includes having recruits punch and kick a dummy or a trainer holding pads, using a padded baton to fight trainers, wrestling and practicing to arrest a suspect who assaults them, according to the lawsuit.

The legal action alleges the practice is an unnecessarily violent rite of passage that recruits have to endure to be accepted into the police “fraternity.” It notes that other recruits suffered injuries before Moses started his drills, including one person whose nose was broken.

The lawsuit also claims that training teaches recruits that excessive force is “officially tolerated, and indeed culturally expected.”

Moses’ lawyers, John Holland and Darold Killmer, say that mindset has nurtured a violent police force and led to lawsuits costing Denver millions of dollars.

“Fight Day both encourages Denver police to engage in brutality and to be indifferent to the injuries they inflict,” Holland said.

The lawsuit claims paramedics cleared Moses to continue the training on January 6, 2023, even though he was not able to stand or walk to the next round — wrestling. Instead, a trainer came to Moses and got on top of him. The recruit soon said he could not breathe, became unresponsive and was taken to the hospital, according to the lawsuit.

“If this had been a football game or boxing match, the head injury and losses of consciousness would have ended any continued participation or fighting immediately,” Moses’ lawyers argue.

The lawsuit alleges that Moses was essentially in police custody after becoming incapacitated and the victim of excessive force as the training continued without him being able to consent.

Moses used to spend free time going to breweries and hiking with friends, but now he is largely confined to his apartment in Denver. He is learning to walk again with prosthetics, but cannot electronically charge them himself because of damage also done to his hands. Despite taking powerful opioids, he lives with constant phantom pain from the limbs he no longer has.

The former rental car manager wanted to be a police officer because he thought it would be a more interesting and meaningful career for someone who enjoys connecting with people.

When Moses was eventually taken to the hospital, his lawyers say police mislead doctors by not revealing that he had hit his head on the floor, compromising the care doctors were able to provide.

Moses remained in the hospital for over four months, had both of his legs amputated below the knee and underwent surgery in July to try to restore his grip in one hand.

Now he wonders what would have happened if police had just stopped the training.

“I more than likely could still have my legs. I more than likely could still have my sanity. I could have been a police officer had you just not hazed us,” he told The Associated Press.

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Colorado has three years to lower ground-level ozone pollution to meet federal standards, and this summer’s hazy skies — caused by oil and gas drilling, heavy vehicle traffic and wildfire smoke — are putting the state in a hole as it’s already logged more dirty air days than in all of 2023.

“Our state has taken a lot of steps to improve air quality, but you can see it in the skies, you can see it in the air, that we still have work to do,” said Kirsten Schatz, clean air advocate for the Colorado Public Interest Research Group.

Two months into the 2024 summer ozone season, the Front Range already has recorded more high ozone days than the entire summer of 2023. As of Monday, which is the most recent data available, ozone levels had exceeded federal air quality standards on 28 days. At the same point in 2023, there had been 27 high-ozone days.

The summer ozone season runs from June 1 to Aug. 31. However, the region encompassing metro Denver and the northern Front Range this year recorded its first high ozone day in May, and in some years ozone pollution exceeds federal standards into mid-September.

The region is failing to meet two air quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The first benchmark is to lower average ozone pollution to a 2008 standard of 75 parts per billion. The northern Front Range is in what’s called “severe non-attainment” for that number, meaning motorists must use a more expensive blend of gasoline during the summer and more businesses must apply for federal permits that regulate how much pollution they spill into the air.

The second benchmark requires the region to lower its average ozone pollution to a 2015 standard of 70 parts per billion, considered the most acceptable level of air pollution for human health. In July, the EPA downgraded the northern Front Range to be in serious violation of that standard as the region’s ozone level now sits at 81 parts per billion. The state must now submit to the EPA a new plan for lowering emissions.

Colorado needs to meet both EPA benchmarks by 2027, or it will be downgraded again and face more federal regulation.

Of the 28 days the state has recorded high ozone pollution levels, 17 exceeded the 2008 standard of 70 parts per billion, according to data compiled by the Regional Air Quality Council, an organization that advises the state on how to reduce air pollution.

That’s bad news for the region after state air regulators predicted Colorado would be able to meet that standard by the 2027 deadline. The EPA calculates average ozone pollution levels on a three-year average, so this summer’s bad numbers will drag down the final grade.

“It’s not a good first year to have,” said Mike Silverstein, the air quality council’s executive director.

Smoke from wildfires near and far

Ground-level ozone pollution forms on hot summer days when volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides react in the sunlight. Those compounds and gases are released by oil and gas wells and refineries, automobiles on the road, fumes from paint and other industrial chemicals, and gas-powered lawn and garden equipment.

It forms a smog that can cause the skies to become brown or hazy, and it is harmful to people, especially those with lung and heart disease, the elderly and children. Ground-level ozone is different than the ozone in the atmosphere that protects Earth from the sun’s powerful rays.

Wildfire smoke blowing from Canada and the Pacific Northwest did not help Colorado’s pollution levels in July, and then multiple fires erupted along the Front Range over the past week, creating homegrown pollution from fine particulate matter such as smoke, soot and ash. Ultimately, though, the heavy smoke days could be wiped from the calculations from 2024, but that decision will be made at a later date.

Still, June also saw multiple high ozone days, and air quality experts say much of the pollution originates at home in Colorado and cannot be blamed on outside influences.

The out-of-state wildfire smoke sent ozone levels skyrocketing the week of July 21 to 27, Silverstein said, but it’s not the reason the numbers are high. The week prior saw ozone levels above federal standards, too, and wildfire smoke had not drifted into the region.

“Pull the wildfires out and we would probably still have had high ozone,” he said.

Jeremy Nichols, senior advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, also warned that wildfires should not be used as an excuse for the region’s air pollution.

“While the wildfires are out of our control, there is a whole bunch of air pollution we can control,” he said. “I don’t want to let that cover up the ugliness that existed here in the first place.”

Nichols blames oil and gas drilling for the region’s smog. The state is not doing enough to regulate the industry, he said.

“We actually need to recognize we are at a point where oil and gas needs to stop drilling on high ozone days,” Nichols said. “Just like we’re told to stay home on high ozone days, business as usual needs to stop. I don’t think we’ve clamped down on them and in many respects they are getting a free pass to pollute.”

Legislation that would have prevented drilling on high ozone days failed during the 2024 session.

However, the air quality council has approved two measures to reduce emissions in the oil fields and is preparing to send those to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for approval.

One proposal would require drilling companies to eliminate emissions from pneumatic actuating devices, equipment driven by pressurized gas to open and close valves in pipelines, Silverstein said. Oil companies already are required to make 50% of those devices emission-free, and the federal government also is requiring them to be 100% emission-free by 2035. But Colorado’s proposal would accelerate the timeline, he said.

The second proposal would tell companies to stop performing blowdowns, which is when workers vent fumes from pipelines before beginning maintenance to clear explosive gases, when an ozone alert is issued, Silverstein said.

“There are thousands of these very small events, but these small events add up to significant activity,” he said.

Gabby Richmond, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, said the industry supports the new regulations. She said operators also were electrifying operations where possible and voluntarily delaying operational activities on high ozone days.

“Our industry values clean air, and we are committed to pioneering innovative solutions that protect our environment and make Colorado a great place to live,” Richmond said in a statement. “As a part of this commitment, we have significantly reduced ozone-causing emissions by over 50% through technology, regulatory initiatives and voluntary measures — all in the spirit of being good neighbors in the communities where we live and work.”

“Knock down emissions where we can”

Meanwhile, people who live in metro Denver and the northern Front Range are asked to do their part, too.

When the state health department issues an ozone action alert — which is a forecast for high pollution levels — people are asked to limit driving as much as possible. They also are asked to avoid using gas-powered lawn and garden equipment until later in the day when the sun starts dropping behind the mountains and temperatures fall.

It would be easy to blame Colorado’s ozone pollution on its geography, global climate change that is raising temperatures, and pollution blowing from other countries and states, Silverstein said. But Colorado has a responsibility to do its part.

“We have 4 million people and a big oil and gas field and lots of industrial activity and all of the things related to human activity all in one concentrated location with a great mountain backdrop, but it comes with a bit of a price,” he said. “So it’s up to us to find the strategies to knock down emissions where we can.”

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Originally Published: August 4, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.