Former Denver Officer Gets Probation For Harassment

DENVER, CO – A former Denver police officer was found guilty of misdemeanor charges of harassment by telephone Wednesday and was immediately sentenced to a year of probation and community service, the Denver County District Attorney's Office said.

Ryan Burke, 47, was accused of harassing his estranged girlfriend at a Denver hotel in September of 2017. Burke was put on administrative leave after the arrest, but had a string of other excessive force complaints against him, as well as two unpaid suspension in 2013 and 2016, as reported by Westword.

Burke was employed by the DPD starting in 1999 and reportedly had received the Medal of Valorand been recognized with nine other commendations, the Denver Post reported at the time of his arrest.

Burke was previously disciplined by the department in 2013 for allegedly roughly arresting a witness who refused to pass through a police department metal detector. He was also suspended in 2016 for allegedly pulling a knife on a fellow employee who shared a romantic interest in an elevator. Burke was named in a 2008 excessive-force lawsuit which claimed he assaulted a handcuffed prisoner who ended up with a broken clavicle. The city settled the case for thousands, the Rocky Mountain News reported.

Burke resigned in October of 2017, said Jay Casillas of the Denver Police Media Relations Unit.

Burke was arrested early in the morning Sept. 3, 2017 at the Renaissance Hotel, 3801 North Quebec Street. The case was described as a domestic violence call in an arrest affidavit. A woman who had been separated from Burke for "approximately a week and a half" told police Burke texted her 118 times accusing her of alleged infidelity. He then showed up at the hotel around 2 a.m. demanding to see the woman. Hotel staff called police.

According to reporting in Westword, Burke's past excessive force disciplinary reports showed up in court documents produced in the 2014 lawsuit on behalf of the late Marvin Booker, who died in the Denver County jail. Booker's family was awarded $6 million by the Denver City Council.

READ MORE in Westword

Image via Denver District Attorney's Office

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