DENVER, April 9 (UPI) -- Community activists say they have 1,000 signatures on a petition requesting a federal investigation of Denver's police force procedures.
The Colorado Progressive Coalition, which led a march through downtown Denver in March to honor the memory of slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin and to restate its interest in a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of the Denver Police Department, said it is still adding signatures to its request.
The Denver Post said Monday nearly a year ago, Thomas Perez, head of the Department of Justice civil rights division, announced a review was in progress to determine if his office needed to investigate Denver law enforcement procedures following the 2009 beating of Michael DeHerrera by a police officer and the 2010 death, after an altercation with deputies in jail, of itinerant street preacher Marvin Booker.
Xochitl Hinojosa, a Department of Justice spokeswoman, said the department is reviewing the new requests to investigate.
"While we have seen a new mayor, a new police chief and a new manager of safety, we have not seen systemic changes that would result in anything different if the same incident were to happen today," said Mu Son Chi, a coalition director, referring to the DeHerrera incident.
