Aurora, CO community members demand police accountability from new district attorney

Centennial, CO – On January 14, the Denver Aurora Community Action Committee (DACAC) and 16 community members braved the cold to rally in opposition to police crimes outside of the office of the district attorney for the 18th Judicial District.

It was the inaugural day for new District Attorney Amy Padden, the democrat sworn in as head prosecutor for the 18th Judicial District. Before January, the 18th District covered Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln Counties, but it has been redrawn to cover Arapahoe County exclusively. The district covers a significant portion of Aurora, as well as part of the rural eastern plains of Colorado.

LaRonda Jones, the mother of Kilyn Lewis, a 37-year-old Black man who was shot and killed while he was unarmed by Aurora police officer Michael Dieck, was in attendance. Jones told the crowd, ”How can we trust a badge that has become a weapon against us? Because of what happened to my son and other family members’ children, the badge is no longer a symbol of protection. It’s a symbol of danger, of fatality, of loss. This isn’t about a few bad apples. It’s about a diseased tree, a system that allows this kind of harm to continue without interruption – a system that turns its back on accountability.”

Anna Harris spoke next and contrasted how the police have treated white mass shooters with the killing of her partner Kory Dillard, a 38-year-old Black veteran who was killed by Aurora Police early last October during a mental health crisis. Harris stated, “Our city has had four mass shootings, and in every tragedy, officers were able to demonstrate their ability to detain a dangerous suspect, not only swiftly, but alive.”

Padden’s predecessor, former DA John Kellner, had a troubling history of protecting violent police and prosecuting victims of police violence as well as those who simply exercised their rights under the law. The people present at the rally are cautiously hopeful that DA Padden will discontinue the policies of John Kellner.

Concluding the action was a reading of a letter to the new district attorney. Jeff McFarland, a member of DACAC, put forward a number of demands to address police crimes, then the crowd chanted, “All power to the people!”

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