A man paralyzed after being taken into custody by La Junta police last year was injured when an officer rolled him out of a police sports utility vehicle onto his head, according to a grand jury report released Thursday.
Donovan Duran was handcuffed when he hit the pavement outside the Arkansas Valley Medical Center, according to the report. His spinal cord was crushed.
Two officers then dragged him toward the hospital’s entrance and placed him slumped forward in a wheelchair, the report said.
The Otero County grand jury last month declined to charge Sgt. Vincent Fraker and Officer John McMillian in the case, saying that while Fraker was responsible for Duran’s injuries when he brought him to the ground, it “cannot be the basis of any criminal charges.”
The grand jury report, however, called Duran’s injuries “tragic.”
Bill Jackson, who oversees the town’s public safety department, has said an internal review of the case is being completed by an outside agency.
Jackson did not return a message Thursday seeking comment.
The police department has never offered an explanation for Duran’s injuries.
The grand jury’s report was released, an option the jurors took in what they said was the “public’s interest,” after a judge’s authorization Wednesday. The decision not to charge Fraker and McMillian was filed April 28.
The grand jury gathered facts based on body camera footage, photographs, testimony from investigators and the officers involved, and expert comment. A video-recorded experiment simulating Duran being rolled out of a vehicle also was submitted.
The report says before he was injured, Duran was ordered out of the car but did not comply, saying “Don’t touch me.” He then put his handcuffed hands behind his knees in an apparent attempt to slip his handcuffs in front of him, at which point Fraker rolled him out and onto the ground head-first.
“Help me,” Duran kept whispering once he was on the ground, according to the report.
He was then dragged toward the hospital’s entrance. Fraker did not tell doctors that Duran had fallen on his head, the report says, and he was lifted into a hospital bed.
A police expert testified that he saw nothing wrong with how Fraker removed Duran from the vehicle, according to the report.
Duran, 25, an aspiring mixed martial arts fighter, told The Denver Post that the two officers attacked him Dec. 7, fracturing his neck and leaving him without feeling below his upper chest.
Duran was never charged. He was picked up by police after family members said they called authorities throughout the day to report him being drunk and in need of help.
Duran’s encounter with La Junta police Dec. 7, a Monday, was at least his third since that Friday. His family said he had been taken to the hospital twice by officers — once from the nearby town of Rocky Ford — in the three days before he was paralyzed.
His parents say they had repeatedly called authorities because he was drinking vodka and acting paranoid. He was released the other two times, they say, after police said there was no charge on which to hold him.
“McMillian stated that Sergeant Fraker was apparently frustrated with having to deal with Duran multiple times that day, but never appeared out of control,” the report said.
Fraker and McMillian, whom authorities say was ruled out as a person of interest in the case early in the investigation, were placed on administrative duty after the encounter.
La Junta is a rural community of about 7,000 roughly 65 miles east of Pueblo.
“I was very, very surprised with the outcome,” Duran said in a phone interview about the grand jury’s decision not to recommend charges. “I really believe in my heart that those guys should have to pay for what they did. But it didn’t happen that way, so I’ll just leave it in God’s hands.”
He has since moved home to La Junta after receiving care at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora.
Durant Davidson, Duran’s attorney, says the decision has no effect on the lawsuit he plans to file against La Junta.
“The Colorado state criminal laws in question before the grand jury are entirely different than the federal laws providing for civil lawsuits against police officers for use of excessive force that causes injuries,” Davidson said.
