Denver police face civil rights lawsuit

DENVER, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A lawsuit by five plaintiffs alleges civil rights abuses by Denver police accused of repeatedly making false arrests.

The five named in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit alleging false arrest Monday represent a "rainbow coalition of victims," said the Denver Post Tuesday. The five in the suit are a black student, a mother, a Latino construction worker, a white high school teacher and a disabled garbage man.

The lawsuit said police failed to check fingerprints, confirm the spelling of names, dates of birth or other personal details, nor did they check their computer database for information on the real suspects.

Last year Denver police paid $18,000 in damages and legal fees to an Aurora woman wrongly jailed after being incorrectly identified as a suspect.

"In every one of these cases, police had to ignore facts that they were arresting the wrong person," said ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein, claiming the city "knowingly tolerated" problems with its procedures.

The Denver police in a statement said, "Our Guiding Principles stress the importance of 'Integrity' and we encourage our personnel to have the courage to do the right thing, maintain self-discipline, control and self-restraint."