Holly MatkinLoveland, CO – A Loveland police officer is out of a job for hitting a handcuffed woman in her face after she spit on him during a vulgar tirade at a local hospital (video below).
The incident began at approximately 8:30 p.m. on May 20, when the Loveland Police Department (LPD) began receiving multiple reports about a woman wandering in and out of traffic and speaking incoherently in the area of East 29th Street and North Garfield Avenue, CBS News reported.
Officers responded to the area and made contact with a woman later identified as 59-year-old Angelia Hall, according to KDVR.
Bodycam footage showed police later explaining they suspected Hall was intoxicated and that the smelled of an alcoholic beverage.
Hall was taken into protective custody and was transported to the Medical Center of the Rockies, The Denver Post reported.
A one-and-one-half-hour-long bodycam video released by the LPD on June 9 showed the handcuffed woman ranting and berating the officers inside the patrol car and at the hospital, where she proceeded to yell profanities.
The video also showed her spitting towards a hospital worker as she cursed at the officers and nurses, used racial slurs, and called them vulgar names inside an examination room.
Loveland Police Officer Russell Maranto, 28, had previously told Hall that a piece of paper she was holding when she was taken into custody would need to be taken from her in accordance with the hospital’s policies.
During Hall’s tirade in the examination room, Officer Maranto was able to remove the paper from the unruly woman’s hands.
She became even more irate at that point, the video showed.
Hall proceeded to yell and scream at a nurse who was trying to figure out how to assist her, calling her a “b—h.”
“F—k you, too!” the irate woman added.
Officer Maranto had his hand on Hall’s shoulder and appeared to be trying to keep her seated when she suddenly turned her attention back to him and raised her knee, then pushed against his body with her lower leg, the video showed.
“If you try to kick me, I will fight back,” he warned her.
Hall told Officer Maranto he was a “-ss wipe f—king b—h,” then spit on his chest, the video showed.
The officer immediately punched her in her face, then pulled her to a standing position.
A second officer intervened and told Officer Maranto to step aside as Hall began yelling that the officer had hit her and that she wanted the video.
Bodycam footage showed Hall spitting at least three more times during the incident, resulting in the second officer placing a spit hood over her head.
A doctor subsequently cleared the unruly woman and told police they could take her to jail.
Hospital staff said they would not return to the room until she was taken away, one officer later told his supervisor.
LPD Chief Tim Doran said in a video briefing on June 9 that the second officer called a supervisor to the hospital and reported the incident immediately, NBC News reported.
Bodycam footage showed the second officer telling the supervisor that Officer Maranto told him he was trying to push Hall’s face way from him so she couldn’t spit at him again.
The LPD ultimately concluded Officer Maranto “responded with inappropriate use of force by striking the female in the face, causing minor injuries to her face,” CBS News reported.
He was fired on May 23 after serving the LPD for approximately one year, according to The Denver Post.
Officer Maranto previously served with the Wyoming Department of Corrections and the Montrose Police Department, according to the New York Post.
Hall has been charged with third-degree assault, CBS News reported.
The Larimer County District Attorney’s Office has not yet made a decision regarding whether the now-former officer will be criminally charged.
“I am sharing this video in the spirit of transparency and on the promise to hold both my team and the citizens who break the law accountable for their actions,” Chief Doran said during the video briefing. “I want to apologize to the community for the actions of our former officer not upholding the standards of our policing profession.”
“Loveland, our police department is filled with brave, respectful and honorable public servants and we all agree inappropriate conduct will never be tolerated or downplayed by your department,” the police chief added.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. Warning – Graphic Content and Obscene Language:
—OFFICER FIRED FOR PUNCH—
Former Loveland Police officer Russell Maratano (28), is under criminal investigation after he’s seen punching suspect in the face in a hospital room.
The suspect, Angelia Hall (59), is seen spitting around the room toward hospital staff prior to punch pic.twitter.com/97CvpiTDIV
— Dillon Thomas (@DillonMThomas) June 9, 2023
