Denver jury awards nearly $20M to 6 bystanders injured in LoDo police shooting
A jury ruled against former Denver Police Officer Brandon Ramos in a recent civil trial after Ramos fired into a crowd of people in the LoDo neighborhood in 2022. On Friday, the jury awarded $19.75 million to six bystanders who were injured that night.
Ramos pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in his criminal trial in January 2024, for which he was sentenced to 18 months of probation and stripped of his Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training certification, barring him from serving as a law enforcement officer in Colorado.
Ramos shot at an armed suspect in the busy neighborhood near 20th and Larimer Street on July 17, 2022, but injured Yekalo Weldehiwet, Bailey Alexander, Willis Small IV, Mark Bess, Angelica Rey, and Ayla Bersagel, who were standing behind or around the man, later identified as Jordan Waddy. Waddy was later charged and pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon by a previous offender and was sentenced to 30 months in jail.
Two other officers who fired their weapons that night were cleared of wrongdoing. Footage of the shooting was captured on each officer's body camera, as well as area security cameras.
The footage showed that, from the other officers' positions directly in front of Waddy, there was no one behind him, but from Ramos' position off to Waddy's side, a crowd of people were behind him and in the bath of Ramos' bullets.
The jury deliberated for about a day and a half on Thursday and Friday before returning a unanimous verdict around 4 p.m. Friday. The trial began on Oct. 7.
After the hearing concluded and the award was announced by Denver District Judge Andrew Patrick McCallin, an attorney for the plaintiffs hailed the ruling.
"This verdict sends a clear message to the Denver Police Department; if you will not discipline your officers, a jury of your peers will," Siddhartha Rathod, of the Rathod Mohamedbhai LLC law firm, told CBS News Colorado.
"The verdict sends an unmistakable message that officers must consider the safety of our communities when they decide to use deadly force. Officers cannot treat the people of Colorado as collateral damage. The significant award recognizes the suffering that these six victims endured at the hands of an officer who vowed to serve and protect but instead fired at will into a crowd," a written statement from Rathod's firm continued.
Ramos was on administrative leave throughout his criminal trial until he entered a guilty plea. He resigned in February 2024.
The Denver Police Department declined to comment on Friday's ruling but said in 2024 that it "updated and enhanced officer training for such encounters to help ensure that our members can take the best and safest possible action in these split-second situations."
Several of the victims also spoke at a news conference and in Ramos' criminal trial.
"I'm not even close to feeling 100%. I do a lot of weight training and that's still been hard to get back to. Mentally, still dealing with anxiety. Public places; seeing a police car on the street will throw me into a panic," Weldewihet said in a 2024 hearing.
"I've definitely been away from downtown bars for the most part. I work down here, and I actually pass Denver Health on my way to work, and that's always hard. It reminds me of my ambulance ride to the hospital," Alexander said at the time.
Ramos was sued individually, and neither the city nor the Denver Police Department was named as a defendant. The city paid for Ramos' legal defense, according to the Denver City Attorney's Office, but Ramos was represented by a private attorney.
Ramos' attorney did not immediately respond to a voicemail or an email seeking comment on the ruling.