Dozens Protest After Officer In Beating Gets His Job Back

DENVER (CBS4) - Dozens of people protested a decision to let a Denver police officer return to his job on Friday.

Officer Randy Murr was fired after a beating in LoDo was caught on tape. The video of Michael DeHerrera being taken into custody is well known. While the officer holding DeHerrera remains fired, Murr was recently ordered reinstated.

The protest took place outside a meeting of the Civil Service Commission in part to show displeasure with a civil service panel's vote to allow corporal Murr to get his job back.

"We are outraged at the reinstatement of Cpl. Randy Murr in the beating of my son Michael DeHerrera and the reinstatement of other officers involved in high-profile cases," DeHerrera's father told CBS4.

There were several people on hand who had claimed to be victims of brutality. Among them was Alexander Landau, who obtained a large settlement with the city after being arrested on a traffic stop.

"I was immediately grabbed, I was hit in the face, I was knocked to the ground, I was hit with a flashlight, a radio, I had a service revolver pressed to my head," Landau said.

Still another incident involving reinstatement of an officer involved in a run-in between police and customers at the Denver Diner.

The demonstration came on the same the day the Denver Civil Service Commission passed a new rule. It will make it a bit more difficult for officers to overturn disciplinary action taken by the manager of safety.

Billboards sponsored by the Police Protective Association protest the change in the rule. The protesters are pleased with that change, but it wasn't enough for them to call off the demonstration.

CBS4 contacted the Civil Service Commission for a comment, but they are not able to say anything because many cases involving officers are still in some form of appeal.