ESCAPE LED POLICE TO SHOOT TWO INNOCENT MEN, KILLING ONE OF THEM

Denver Deputies Suspended for Not Restraining Prisoner

By Elise Schmelzer

The Denver Post
November 21, 2018

DENVER -- Two Denver sheriff’s deputies will serve suspensions for not using restraints while transporting an attempted-murder suspect and failing to chase the suspect for more than six minutes after he escaped.

The suspect, Mauricio Venzor-Gonzalez, remained free for five months after his escape in March. He was re-captured in Thornton in August. During their search for the fugitive, Denver police mistakenly killed a man and injured another in a van they thought Venzor-Gonzalez might be in.

Deputy Stephen Hernandez will be suspended for 14 days beginning Dec. 31 and Deputy Jason Leyshon will serve six days of suspension staring Dec. 26 for improperly responding to Venzor-Gonzales’ escape, according to discipline letters from the Denver Department of Public Safety.

“Approximately six minutes elapsed before Deputy Hernandez and Deputy Leyshon began to search for the escaped inmate,” the letters state.

Venzor-Gonzalez suffered three gunshot wounds during a shootout with police and was scheduled for an orthopedic appointment on March 19 at the Denver Health Medical Center. Hernandez and Leyshon were charged with transporting the man to the appointment from the Denver Detention Center, but did not put any restraints on Venzor-Gonzalez, who was using crutches, or any of the other inmates going to the hospital in the van that day because they were considered fall risks, the deputies later told investigators, according to the letters.

Venzor-Gonzalez was classified as a medium security level, meaning he was deemed assaultive and an escape risk.

When the inmates exited the van at a secure loading dock at the hospital, Venzor-Gonzalez climbed over a gate and ran away down Eighth Avenue.

Hernandez told investigators he did not immediately radio others about the escape because his radio was still on the frequencies used at the jail. Leyshon attempted to call in, but he inadvertently switched his radio to the wrong channel. A hospital employee who saw the inmate run was the first to report the incident to police.

It took five minutes for the escape to be broadcast to police and 20 minutes for an officer to arrive on scene, the letters show. Hernandez and Leyshon did not attempt to pursue Venzor-Gonzalez for six minutes.

The deputies never told their supervisors that they were not going to use restraints while transporting the inmates.

In an interview with internal affairs officers, Hernandez said he didn’t know what the proper procedure was for transporting inmates who use walkers, crutches or canes.

“It never came to my mind he’s going to — he can run and try to escape,” Hernandez said according to his letter.

Hernandez has worked at the sheriff’s office since 1996.

Leyshon, who has been a deputy since 2005, said in a statement to internal investigators that he acknowledged “he was not perfect that day,” according to his discipline letter.

During the months-long search for Venzor-Gonzalez, Denver police mistakenly shot at a van that they believed the suspect was in. Venzor-Gonzalez was not in the van and police killed 27-year-old Steven Nguyen and wounded 23-year-old Rafael Landeros.