Denver District Attorney clears 2 Glendale officers in fatal Halloween shooting

truck

Denver District Attorney Beth McCann declared Wednesday that the fatal shooting of John Pacheaco by two Glendale police officers was legally justified and no criminal charges will be filed.

Pacheaco, 36, was killed by police on Oct. 31 after officers found him passed out in a stolen truck, stopped in the middle of South Colorado Boulevard.

After the officers woke him up, Pacheaco crashed into multiple patrol cars and clipped one of the officers.

“At the moment they shot Mr. Pacheaco, these officers reasonably believed that their fellow officers were in danger of being killed or receiving serious bodily injury,” McCann said.

McCann will present and discuss her conclusions about the officer-involved shooting during a community meeting on May 26 at 5:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend the meeting online via Microsoft Teams.

According to McCann’s decision letter, Pacheaco was found in the stopped black truck about 10 p.m. The truck was in the right lane of South Colorado Boulevard and did not go when the light turned green.

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Glendale police officer Bradley Reed parked behind the truck and turned on his emergency lights. When he walked to the passenger side, Reed saw the driver slumped over the steering wheel with the truck still running.

At that point, Reed called for backup from Glendale and Denver police and was informed the truck had been reported stolen, the letter said.

Glendale officers Chandler Phillips and Neal McCormick arrived and parked their patrol vehicles in front and behind the truck to block it in.

Two officers stood on the driver’s side and one stood on the passenger’s side as they shouted commands at the driver to wake him up.

When Pacheaco woke up, he looked at the officers, put the truck into gear and drove forward, crashing into one of the patrol cars, the letter said.

McCormick, who was on the passenger side, ran behind the truck to try to get to his fellow officers on the driver’s side.

While he was moving behind the truck, Pacheaco reversed rapidly, clipping McCormick on the side and crashing into the patrol car behind him.

I went through a training simulator used by Denver police, and this is what happened

While the truck was reversing, McCormick and Phillips fired into the truck, hitting Pacheaco. McCormick fired seven rounds and Phillips fired 12 rounds, the letter said.

Responding Denver officers provided medical aid for Pacheaco. He was taken to a hospital but was pronounced dead later that night.

A medical examination found he had been shot three times, including twice to the head and face.

A toxicology report also found that Pacheaco had methamphetamine in his system at the time of the shooting.

There is no body camera footage of the incident because Glendale police do not wear body cameras.

However, surveillance footage from a nearby building, a witness’s cellphone video and various witness interviews included in the letter appear to confirm the events.



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