A Black man is suing the Denver Police Department after he had to have both of his legs amputated due to an alleged "brutal hazing ritual" that he endured as a police recruit.
On Tuesday (July 30), Victor Moses filed a lawsuit alleging that he was forced to participate in a police training exercise called "Fight Day," which simulates arrest and assault situations, per New York Daily News. The "Fight Day" training included excessive force and left him with life-altering injuries, according to the lawsuit.
“I never thought that I would become the target of police brutality as I was training to become a police officer,” Moses said in a statement. “Now I am picking up the pieces and coming to grips with a lifetime of disabilities.”
The January 2023 training at the Denver police academy included four stations, teaching recruits how to escalate and de-escalate force.
According to the suit, Moses was aggressively knocked down by officers and hit his head on the floor. Moses told paramedics on standby that he had the sickle cell trait, putting him at an increased risk of medical complications from high-intensity exercise, the suit states. He also warned them that his blood pressure was low and that his legs were cramping.
Moses alleges that he was forced to continue the training despite being so exhausted that officers had to physically move him to one of the stations. At one point during the training, an officer allegedly put all his body weight on Moses who told them "I can't breathe" before fell unconscious.
The former police recruit was taken to a hospital and later had to have his legs amputated.
Moses alleges that "Fight Day" is an unnecessary training tactic that promotes excessive force.
“Instead of training police properly in constitutional use of force techniques, including de-escalation and rendering emergency aid to the injured, the defenseless or the subdued, Denver with the groupthink help of Denver Health instead teaches police recruits it is acceptable to seriously injure people, even fellow officers like Victor Moses, to the point of unconsciousness and then not timely secure emergency care to help them,” John Holland, one of Moses’ attorneys, said in a statement.
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