Within seconds of arriving on scene last August and without a word, former Aurora police Officer Robert Rosen began slamming his fist into the side of the man lying on the grocery store floor, video footage released by the department Thursday shows.
Rosen didn’t try to de-escalate the situation with the man, who was accused of trespassing, nor did he give any verbal orders before punching the man in the ribs. He then used a Taser on the man repeatedly, according to an Aurora Police Departments review of the incident.
On Thursday, Aurora police Chief Vanessa Wilson fired Rosen for the excessive use of force on the man, as well as Rosen’s failure to turn on his body camera, failure to document why he used the Taser and beat the man, as well as unsatisfactory performance.
“Members of the Aurora Police Department have been working tirelessly to rebuild trust in our community and I want to thank those officers who do it right everyday,” Wilson said in a statement. “The actions of Mr. Rosen were in direct contradiction of those efforts. The poor decisions he made that day do not meet the high standards that the community and I expect from my officers.”
Rosen, who joined the department in 2017, was the second officer to respond Aug. 10 to a call from employees at a King Soopers grocery store about the man, whom they had asked to leave. The first officer contacted the man and pulled him to the ground after he tried to run, according to body camera footage of the incident released by the police department. The man spoke incoherently while facedown on the floor and did not comply with the first officer’s commands to take his arms out from underneath him, the video shows.
Rosen arrived at the scene and immediately punched the man in the ribs. He then used his Taser on the man five times for a total of 27 seconds, according to the department.
“No lesser means of force were attempted by Officer Rosen,” a summary of the incident states.
Prosecutors in the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office reviewed the incident and decided not to charge Rosen with a crime, according to the police department. Rosen’s actions caused the man minor injuries, according to the department.
Rosen is at least the eighth police officer fired by Wilson since she was named interim chief of the department on Dec. 30, 2019. She was appointed the position permanently on Aug. 3.
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