A Denver police recruit is suing those who allegedly forced him to continue a “barbaric hazing ritual” that resulted in both of his legs being amputated after losing consciousness and repeatedly collapsing during fight training, the Associated Press reports. Victor Moses, 29, alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that aggressive officers knocked him down multiple times in the second round of “fight day” last year, with one of them shoving him off the mat and causing him to hit his head on the floor. He said he was pressured to continue, with officers picking him up and setting him back on his feet, before paramedics standing by were asked to check him out, the lawsuit said. Moses told them he had the sickle cell trait, which puts him at an increased risk of medical complications from high-intensity exercise. He also said he had very low blood pressure and complained that his legs were cramping, according to the lawsuit. The symptoms are danger signs for people with his condition.
The type of training described in the lawsuit is common in the United States and helps prepare recruits for scenarios they could face on patrol, said Ian Adams, an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina. Minor injuries are common and occasionally recruits die, often because of an underlying medical condition, he said. Both the Denver Police Department and Denver Health, the public hospital that employed the paramedics, declined to comment on the allegations, saying they could not address pending litigation. “Safety and well-being is a top priority for Denver Health and its paramedics,” the hospital said in a statement. Moses’ lawyers, John Holland and Darold Killmer, say that mindset has nurtured a violent police force and led to lawsuits costing Denver millions of dollars “Fight Day both encourages Denver police to engage in brutality and to be indifferent to the injuries they inflict,” Holland said.
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