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tomwald

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Denver: Police officer slams bicyclist's head into pavement

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2 … g-cyclist/

Video can be found here (via local TV news):
http://www.9news.com/video/default.aspx?aid=58967

Denver officer charged with assaulting cyclist
By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News
Published December 19, 2008 at 7:03 p.m.
Updated December 19, 2008 at 7:49 p.m.

A Denver police officer was charged Friday with felony assault for allegedly slamming a bicyclist's face into the pavement while trying to arrest him earlier this year near Coors Field.

Michael Cordova, 32, faces two counts of second-degree assault in connection with the alleged attack on John Heaney, the Denver district attorney said. Cordova has been released from custody on a $5,000 bond, and is scheduled to be advised of the charges in county court on Jan. 2.

The case has taken some dramatic twists and turns since the April 4 incident. Initially prosecutors charged Heaney, 57, with second-degree assault on a police officer. However, the district attorney dismissed the assault charge against Heaney in August after a witness came forward with a videotape showing officers trying to restrain and handcuff Heaney.

An officer can be seen shoving Heaney's face into the pavement. Prosecutors said Heaney suffered two fractured front teeth.

At Heaney's preliminary hearing in May, Cordova was on the witness stand when he emphatically denied that he slammed Heaney's face into the pavement.

The confrontation began after Heaney struck Cordova with his bicycle at the intersection of 20th and Blake streets, police said. Cordova claimed Heaney then hit him in the face. Heaney said he only tried to flip Cordova's baseball cap off his head when officers started assaulting him.

Cordova was on-duty working in the vice unit trying to crack down on ticket scalpers around the stadium.

The initial part of the confrontation was not caught on video. The tape starts with the officers attempting to restrain Heaney and force him onto his stomach.