Denver, CO
Denver cop lied about Aurora police sergeant’s DUI arrest, investigation finds
A Denver police officer lied about an Aurora police sergeant when she claimed the sergeant tried to ram her patrol car as she pulled him over for driving under the influence in 2021, according to newly released internal affairs documents.
Denver police Officer Suzanne Shaffer resigned while the internal affairs investigation was ongoing in 2022, according to the documents, which were released to The Denver Post last week in response to an open records request. The internal affairs investigation concluded in January.
Shaffer pulled over Aurora police Sgt. John Moreland in July 2021 after she said she saw Moreland swerving between lanes at 4720 Tower Road. Moreland, who was not in uniform and was driving a pickup truck, pulled over into a gas station and apologized, but then walked away from Shaffer when she demanded his license and insurance, according to the internal affairs investigation.
Shaffer didn’t tell him to stop and didn’t follow him. Instead, she called for backup on her police radio, telling her fellow police officers that Moreland had “almost rammed” her with his pickup truck. That was a lie. Moreland never drove his truck at Shaffer or tried to hit her patrol car, the internal investigation later found.
But Shaffer’s lie upped the urgency for backup and prompted other officers to respond quickly with their lights and sirens activated, the internal investigation found. Shaffer also told responding officers that Moreland “kept putting his hand in his right pocket.”
After leaving the scene, Moreland eventually walked back to the gas station, where Shaffer and other officers arrested him. During the arrest, she told him again that he’d “tried to ram” her and would be charged with “attempted vehicular assault.” Another officer told Moreland he would be charged with assaulting a police officer, he claimed.
He was not charged with those offenses. Moreland instead faced charges of obstructing a police officer, driving while under the influence, driving while ability impaired and lane violations. The internal affairs report did not list Moreland’s blood alcohol level at the time of his arrest.
Moreland pleaded guilty to driving while ability impaired in September 2021 and the other charges were dismissed, according to the internal affairs records. He was sentenced to 12 months of supervised probation and had to pay a $1,500 fine.
Moreland resigned from the Aurora Police Department in lieu of termination in December 2021, police spokesman Joe Moylan said Wednesday. That same month, he filed the internal affairs complaint with the Denver Police Department against Shaffer, claiming she was untruthful during the arrest.
Shaffer told investigators she misspoke when she said that Moreland almost rammed her vehicle. She could not explain why she misspoke the same way several times. She also said that she felt unexpectedly vulnerable during the traffic stop that day after discovering a change in her personal circumstances the night prior.
“Shaffer volunteered that, on the night before this incident, she found out she was [redacted],” reads the report, which was redacted to remove private information. “She feared the possibility of having to use force on the suspect, as doing so might have [redacted].”
Shaffer said she immediately requested to go on “light duty” after the traffic stop to avoid further situations where she felt she was at undue risk due to the change in her circumstances. The internal affairs investigation found she let the traffic stop “spiral out of control.”
The internal investigation was paused for some time while Shaffer was on family medical leave from February 2022 to June 2022. In June 2022, she said she could not return to a full eight-hour shift with the police department because of her daughter’s medical issues and requested an additional leave of absence, which was denied. She then resigned.
Shaffer did not give an interview to internal affairs until December 2022, and the allegation of untruthfulness was not sustained until January 2024.
State records show both Shaffer and Moreland remain certified police officers, but neither is employed by a Colorado law enforcement agency.
Shaffer could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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DENVER — Paul Noel Fiorino has run for mayor of Denver, Colorado governor, and U.S. Senate, but he’s more musician than politician these days.
Fiorino will be playing harmonica and guitar at Skyline Plaza along 16th Street in downtown Denver this week.
“Essentially, they’re paying us to be here as part of the network of performers that the 16th Street has hired,” he told Denver7 on Thursday.
In March, the Denver City Council approved an additional $1.5 million to revive the former 16th Street Mall as it goes through a rebrand. That money is now being put to work to pay performers like Fiorino and fill vacant storefronts with art displays. Those include one storefront now decorated with an array of colorful cowboy hats, and another with dozens of giant straws hanging from the ceiling.
Read our previous coverage below:
This week, a Memorial Day EDM concert brought thousands of people to 16th Street, but also left questions. One viewer reached out to Denver7 asking, “What is planned to bring families, those with or without children, back into downtown?”
We took that question directly to Denver leaders.
“We have over 90 days of events this summer, so there’s something for everyone on 16th Street,” said Kate Barton, chief of external affairs for the Downtown Denver Partnership.
Downtown leaders are betting big on this weekend’s free “summer kickoff” celebration, with family-friendly activities including the World Cup of Speed Climbing. A large rock climbing wall has gone up near 16th and Welton.
Just blocks away at Civic Center Park this weekend, Outside Festival organizers are expecting about 25,000 people after an 18,000-person turnout last year. The hope is that the event drives even more people to 16th.
“There’s so much to celebrate in downtown right now,” said Barton.
However, the same viewer also asked Denver7, “What is the plan to address high cost and low availability to safe parking?” Denver7 also brought that question to Barton.
“We have a couple of opportunities with partners for some parking deals,” she said. “The Denver Performing Arts Complex has a parking deal before 10:30 in the morning if you’re bringing your family. There’s also some other affordable opportunities around. We also always encourage the use of transit to come downtown on the weekends.”
Barton hopes this weekend sets the stage for a busy summer downtown.
“This is really for us to be able to showcase everything that we’ve invested in as a city, and to start to invite people to experience it themselves,” she said.
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Downtown’s most distressed office buildings are also some of the region’s largest. Built during an oil and gas boom in the 1970s and 1980s, most are located in the Upper Downtown and Skyline Park areas, which had multiple blocks scraped to make room for taller buildings.
READ THE FULL PROJECT: At a crossroads: Downtown Denver is waiting for its rebound
Tenants are increasingly favoring smaller leases in the LoDo, Central Platte Valley and Union Station areas if they aren’t leaving for other districts. Denver has designated at least 30 of downtown’s towers as distressed, meaning they have a higher vacancy rate or have been emptied out for renovations or a new use. Click circles for details. Only buildings larger than 100,000 square feet are included.
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Metro Denver commuters can look forward to faster trips on the Regional Transportation District’s light rail after the agency lifted the last of 31 speed restrictions that have slowed trains for almost a year.
RTD lifted the final slow zone on a 400-foot southbound segment near the Southmoor Station on Tuesday morning, officials said in a news release.
Transportation officials found minor issues and “track imperfections” in May 2024 and added 10 mph speed restrictions to sections of the D, E, H and R lines in June and July until workers could finish repairs.
Over the next 11 months, nearly 100 employees removed and replaced more than two miles of track and finished grinding 50 miles of rail to remove surface defects that could cause cracks, according to RTD.
The delays caused frustration among customers and drops in ridership, with some people reporting more than double the amount of time to take their regular route to work.
Temporary speed restrictions will return as needed after rail inspections because of RTD’s “aging rail infrastructure,” the agency said.
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