Denver Sheriff's Deputies Allegedly Come to Blows Over Day-Old Cupcake
If violent, screaming confrontations over day-old cupcakes and losing guns in McDonald's bathrooms sounds like your kind of thing, you should consider a job at the Denver Sheriff's Department. According to disciplinary letters obtained by the Denver Post, over the past 18 months deputies and employees at the department have been reprimanded for accidentally discharging their service weapons at least two times, losing a prisoner (and then arresting the wrong person), feeding prisoners homemade sandwiches and letting them watch YouTube videos, and abandoning posts six hours early.
The Post also uncovered more serious allegations of abuse, including a deputy who allegedly kicked a basketball into an inmate's head (and then wrote a "sarcastic" report about it) and another who allegedly grabbed an inmate by his throat.
One deputy, Deanna Gordon, was fired this February, over 16 months after she was first accused of wrongdoing. From the Post:
Gordon finally was dismissed after an investigation found multiple violations, including inmates taking cigarettes from her purse, watching music videos on her computer with her and eating sandwiches she had brought them.
Gordon also failed to make the required number of rounds in her pod, did not enforce the inmate dress code, did not lock the janitorial closet and dimmed lights during the day, the letter said.
In her defense, Gordon told investigators that she suffered from "correctional fatigue" after working 12-hour shifts.
And here's the Post's account of the cupcake incident:
Deputy Stevie Wise called another jail employee a "klepto" when she took a day-old, leftover cupcake from a table.
She smashed a cupcake on his face, which angered Wise, the disciplinary letter said. Wise threw the cupcake at her and cursed as he chased her to a supervisor's office. Wise also hit the supervisor's door hard, causing it to bang into his co-worker's body.
Sounds like a fun place to work.
But don't worry Denver residents! A new sheriff was appointed last month. Sheriff Elias Diggins told the Post he's working hard to fix the department's many, many problems.
"No act of unprofessionalism and no violation of policy and procedure is tolerated," Diggins said. "The troops know, as a no-nonsense leader, that's not something I expect or something I look upon lightly."