Sandy MaloneAurora, CO – A police sergeant has been placed on leave while the Aurora Police Department completes its internal affairs investigation into bodycam video that shows him engaged in an obscenity-laced screaming match with a 17-year-old girl (video below).
The incident occurred on June 29 when members of Aurora PD’s Gang Intervention Unit stopped a vehicle for speeding in the area of East 2nd and North Airport Boulevard, KSNT reported.
Officers asked the male passenger in the stopped car to get out of the vehicle.
Bodycam video showed the passenger took off running as soon as he got out of the car.
Officers pursued the suspect on foot but did not apprehend him, the video showed.
However, bodycam video showed the fleeing suspect dropped a loaded handgun with an extended magazine to the ground as he ran off.
Aurora Police Sergeant Ed Acuti recovered the firearm, which turned out to be stolen, KSNT reported.
Then Sgt. Acuti returned to the scene where officers had detained the 17-year-old girl who was driving the vehicle that was speeding, the bodycam showed.
The teenage girl was hysterical and behaving in a generally uncooperative manner with the police.
Her hysterical cries indicated that she was most upset the passenger in her car had fled the scene and left her behind, the video showed.
“Why would he leave me?” she sobbed. “Why would he do me like this?”
She told officers in the video that her son had a gash on his head and she was on her way to see him when she was stopped.
But after officers told her to stay seated on the curb while they investigated, her shrieking became unbearable, the video showed.
Bodycam video showed that Sgt. Acuti yelled at the girl to “shut the f—k up” and she became even more hysterical.
“Y’all kill people! Call my mom!” she screamed. “If I wanted to run, you think I would have pulled over?”
The video showed the officer continued to try to get the girl to take a deep breath and calm down, but she continued to shriek and scream profanities at the officers.
The video showed Sgt. Acuti finally lost his temper and responded “f—k you” to the girl.
Then the sergeant gave the driver a lecture.
“You think I’m out here playing f—king games?” Sgt. Acuti asked. “You’re out of your f—king mind, and I’ll tell your mom the same f—king thing. I’m sure your mom would be real happy that your f—king man’s got a gun in his f—king waistband, running around f—king town. Right?”
“Whose f—king car is this?” he asked her in the video. “Tell me! Whose f-king car is this? ‘Cause it’s gonna go to the f-king impound and I don’t give a f—k how you get around. Are we f—king clear?”
The girl continued to shriek and scream, the video showed.
“You better keep your f—king mouth shut,” the sergeant told her. “I’ll make your life a living f—king hell from this f—king day forward. You wanted it? You f—king earned it. I don’t care how the f—k old you are. Let that f—king sink in.”
The 17-year-old girl was arrested and booked into the Aurora Jail on charges of speeding, driving without a license, and obstructing a peace officer, KSNT reported.
She was released to the custody of a parent later the same night.
The verbal altercation was reported to Aurora police supervisors by another officer who was on the scene, KSNT reported.
Aurora police said Sgt. Acuti was placed on administrative leave while the allegations were investigated.
Police officials said internal affairs was completing its investigation of the complaint alleging unprofessional conduct by a supervisor, KSNT reported.
The police chief praised the officer who had come forward with the complaint against Sgt. Acuti.
“In every interaction, we must strive to treat individuals with respect and remain professional,” Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson said in a statement. “I commend the officers that are unwilling to compromise their integrity and continue to report misconduct that jeopardizes the work we, as an agency, are trying to accomplish with our community.”
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING: Graphic Content and Obscene Language:
Holly Matkin
