Bunch: Cuffing reporter renders poor verdict on Denver

Colorado Politics: Denver cops messed with the wrong lady. I’ve known her well for 16 years, and you better know what you’re doing if you slap handcuffs on Susan Greene.

“Act like a lady,” both officers scolded the longtime Denver journalist, practically lifting her by her arms pulled high behind her back in handcuffs. “Stop resisting,” one said ridiculously to the tiny woman being manhandled by two cops, as if her sharp glances toward them could kill.

This is Denver justice, the price you pay for standing down the block with a cell phone trained on a handful of officers standing over a dazed, naked black man on July 5.

Before Susan showed up with her camera, video shows a cop allowing a woman holding the hand of a little girl in a pink shirt with ribbons in her hair to walk past within a few feet of the man. “Just be careful and try to stay away from him,” the officer told her.

They didn’t cuff Susan until she took a picture of Officer James Brooks’ badge.

“Here you go, now you can go to jail,” Officer Adam Paulsen taunted her then, as they pulled her arms behind her.

That was a bluff. They didn’t take Susan to jail, because they had no legitimate reason. But they took her phone while she waited in the back of a police cruiser. This scene was about intimidation and shielding their badges from scrutiny, not law and order.

Now she’s threatening a lawsuit that could put the cops on the stand and revive the department’s reputation for the way it handles even law-abiding citizens.

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