UPDATE: Colorado man says police brutally beat, paralyzed him
A mixed martial arts fighter is now paralyzed after he says La Junta police officers brutally beat him.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is investigating the Dec. 7 incident, which Donovan Duran’s attorneys call a case of police brutality.
Two La Junta police officers have been placed on administrative duties pending the outcome of the investigation. LJPD and the CBI would not confirm the identities of the officers.
According to Duran, he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly. He says officers then threw him on the ground and beat him outside a hospital while he was in handcuffs.
“As soon as I stepped out, they slammed me to the ground, put their knee and forearm in the back of my neck and the knee in my back,” Duran said.
Duran said his arms and legs were strapped to a gurney and he was taken into a guarded room to sober up. He said when he began feeling pain in his neck, officers ignored his cries for help for hours.
“It was so excruciating,” Duran said. “I was begging and begging for someone to help me.”
When doctors attended to him, Duran was paralyzed from the waist down and did not have use of his hands. He was flown to University Hospital in Aurora for treatment.
“When he’s already got his hands behind his back and he’s handcuffed, he’s able to walk, something’s wrong on the part of the Police Department that he now is paralyzed from the waist down,” said Duran’s attorney Mike McDivitt.
The La Junta Police Department referred KRDO NewsChannel 13 to the CBI for comment. A CBI spokesperson would not detail steps of its investigation, but said a special prosecutor was requested by the 16th Judicial District so its findings would be released to the 15th Judicial District.
Though Duran’s attorneys said a police report was never filed about the incident, the CBI said it could not confirm that. Duran’s attorneys said investigators would be looking for any surveillance video and body camera footage.
Duran is still recovering in the hospital.
Duran’s wife, Shawnee Cordova, said her husband will be in the hospital for a long time. She said after he is released, doctors expect Duran will have to go through years of physical therapy. She said doctors estimate Duran has a 1 percent chance of walking again. Cordova said the couple’s two children are too young to comprehend what’s happened to their dad.
