Breaking: Protests in Denver After Surveillance Video of Shooting Shows Police Lied

July 15, 2015July 15, 2015 Kelly W. Patterson 698 Views #NativeLivesMatter, Accountability, assault, Brutality, Capital City mobile home park, Civil rights, CO, Colorado, copblock, copblock.org, Corruption, Denver, denver police department, Dishonesty, DPD, excessive force, Featured, FOX31 Denver, indigenous resistance, Justice for Paul, kelly patterson, Kentucky Ave, Lakota, native american, Paul Castaway, police, police abuse, police accountability, Police brutality, Rick Morado, rights, Surveillance, Tammy Vigil, video, whats wrong with you guys

Conflicting Accounts

Sunday night police in Denver shot a man after claiming he charged at them with a knife. Witnesses at the time disputed that claim. Now surveillance footage from a nearby business supports the witnesses over the police version. Instead of charging toward the officers, the video shows Paul Castaway holding the knife to his own throat the entire time.

Via Fox31 Denver:

Police shot and killed a man they say charged at them with a knife. But witnesses and surveillance video say otherwise.

The manager of Capital City mobile home park at 4501 W. Kentucky Ave. has the video. He wouldn’t give it to FOX31 Denver, but he did show it to reporter Tammy Vigil.

It shows Paul Castaway, 35, coming up from behind a white mobile home, through a black iron fence onto the street and around a wooden fence, which is a dead end.

He then turned back around onto the street with a knife to his neck the whole time, when an officer shoots him. The video seems to not match what police say happened.

Additionally, police originally claimed that Castaway had stabbed his mother and that she had been taken to the hospital with injuries as a result. They later revised that to him having threatened her and caused minor injuries to her neck.

Witnesses once again dispute that, stating she has no injuries at all. Rick Morado, Castaway’s cousin, contends that he was really just trying to get away and not attacking the police at all. As has often been the case in past police shootings, Castaway’s mother now says she regrets calling the police.

Protests in Denver – “What’s Wrong With You Guys?”

#PaulCastaway‘s family is marching in #Denver. Rather than give them space to grieve @DenverPolice are making arrests/shoving fam/laughing.

— Jesse Benn (@JesseBenn) July 15, 2015

Over the past few hours, after news of the inconsistencies in the surveillance footage spread, protests began in Denver. Many Native Americans, including Castaway’s own family, within the Denver area have gathered to protest recent killings of indigenous people by police and the lack of coverage of those murders by media. Paul Castaway and his family are members of the Lakota tribe.

Castaway’s purported last words to police, “What’s wrong with you guys,” have been used as a chant during the protest and as a hashtag on Twitter and other social media to spread news of the shooting. #PaulCastaway and #JusticeForPaul have also been trending among activist and police accountability groups on social media. Reportedly, at least one person has been arrested by Denver police during the protests.