DENVER (AP) - An independent panel is considering whether a Colorado police officer should get his job back after being fired for not assisting a Black woman who begged for help after she became lodged upside down in the back of his patrol car.
Aurora’s civil service commission began its deliberations about the fate of Levi Huffine following Thursday’s conclusion of his appeal hearing, which included body camera video of Shataeah Kelly falling off the back seat of the cruiser with her ankles and wrists restrained behind her and attached to a nylon band around her waist.
She pleads with Huffine for most of the 20-minute trip to jail, repeatedly saying she can not breathe and that her neck is breaking. Later, she says she cannot believe she is “suffering like this for being Black” and addresses the officer as “master.”
The commission issues decisions in writing, which typically take about two weeks, city spokesperson Michael Bryant said. It has the power to overturn Huffine’s firing and issue another disciplinary action, or uphold his termination.
Huffine apologized to the commission but said he did not know Kelly had fallen off the seat because he could not see her. However, he acknowledged that if he had glanced into the back seat, he would have seen her legs on the passenger side.
Assistant City Attorney Isabelle Evans suggested Huffine ignored Kelly because he was angry and that he had referred to her as “just another drunk” while talking to Police Chief Vanessa Wilson. Huffine denied acting out of anger and explained that he did not hear any signs of labored breathing. He also said he wanted to get Kelly to the jail and out of the restraints in rush hour traffic as quickly as possible, seeing that as a better option than pulling over and waiting for an ambulance.
His lawyer, Carrie Slinkard, argued that officers have long asserted it was dangerous to transport people hobbled with restraints in cruisers and Huffine should not be punished for following the flawed policy. It was later changed as a result of what happened to Kelly, who was not physically injured.
Huffine arrested Kelly on Aug. 27, 2019, saying she refused to stop punching a woman in a park. He decided to put her in a hobble after she tried but failed to get out his patrol car while handcuffed in the back seat.
In the video, Kelly says she can’t breathe after she is first put in the car across the back seat. She says she was intoxicated, berates Huffine and asks if she can sit upright.
After she falls to the floor, she says fairly calmly that her head and neck are breaking and that she can’t breathe. Her pleas grow panicked as the trip goes on and she seems to try to different approaches to get the officer’s attention, saying she is sorry and calling him a “good dude” before calling him “master.”
“How many times to I have to beg you master? Master, I’ll be good,” she says shortly before arriving at jail.
Huffine said he did not speak to Kelly because she had become agitated when he spoke with her before.
The Aurora Police Department previously came under scrutiny over the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a Black man confronted by police after someone reported him as suspicious. No officers have been fired over their involvement with McClain although three officers were fired this year over photos mocking a stranglehold used on him.
Police Chief Wilson told the commission that the department needs to change and adapt in an era when people expect police officers to be held accountable.
“Sometimes your mistakes are so bad that there is nothing we can do to keep you on,” she said.
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