Police brutality claims made by second Colorado Springs man

The same incident involving a man currently suing nine Colorado Springs police officers affects another man considering a similar lawsuit.

Brian Greenley, 23, came forward Friday to accuse police of illegally arresting and assaulting him in July 2013, during a disturbance outside Cowboys nightclub downtown.

During the same incident, Grant Bloomquist, 30, said he received similar treatment and more serious injuries when he tried to stop police from beating a black man, Domineke Johnson, during an arrest. Bloomquist filed suit against the officers involved.

Greenley is black and Bloomquist is white.

Greenley said he and a friend were at the bar that night but were roughly thrown out by bouncers who thought the two men were in a fight.

“I just put my hands up, asking (officers) to stop, (telling them) I didn’t do anything, and they grabbed me from one arm and then another and yelled to stop resisting arrest and pretty much beat me to the ground, Tasering me, causing me to black out,” Greenley said.

Greenley said he suffered bruises and swelling and initially was charged with resisting arrest and obstruction of justice.

Although he maintains his innocence, he said his public defender advised him to avoid jail time by pleading guilty to the latter charge.

“I couldn’t afford to hire an attorney to fight it,” he said.

Greenley said he was sentenced to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service.

“I also had to pay the officers’ medical bills as restitution and write apology letters to three of them,” he said.

Greenley said his public defender told him Bloomquist couldn’t be found and was unable to help Greenley as a witness.

“I also was never told there was surveillance video available that could have been used as evidence to help me,” Greenley said.

Another factor working against Greenley, he said, was a previous burglary conviction that was a case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I was just trying to get a ride home,” he said. “The guys I was with broke into a house. I tried to walk away from the situation but got blamed, too.”

Greenley said his felony conviction made people less likely to believe him and to consider him guilty in the downtown disturbance.

Greenley’s uncle, Jeffrey Outlaw, is retired from the military and has mixed feelings about the situation.

“It’s very sad,” Outlaw said. “I know a lot of good, responsible police officers, but I keep seeing cases like this across the country. Some officers get overanxious and get carried away in certain situations.”

Outlaw said the bouncers at Cowboys should bear some responsibility.

“If you’re throwing people out and onto officers, that’s bad in the first place,” he said. “In this situation, it was chaotic, and I can see how officers sometimes don’t have a chance to ask questions.”

Outlaw said the disturbance is an example of how body cameras could have clearly proved his nephew’s innocence.

Greenley said he’s looking for an attorney to appeal his conviction in the disturbance case and is also considering his own lawsuit against the officers involved.