A former Aurora police officer has been named in a civil lawsuit filed in federal court for an alleged attack on a 49-year-old disabled woman who was walking her small dog in an apartment complex. The lawsuit claims excessive force and that the woman’s civil rights were violated.
Douglas Harroun was arrested and charged with felony assault in connection to the Jan. 11 incident. He resigned from the Aurora Police Department on Jan. 30. An internal affairs investigation is ongoing.
Wyoma Martinez, 49, who suffers from complex regional pain syndrome, was walking her dog when Harroun, who was off duty at the time, pulled up in a vehicle and began “revving his engine and came dangerously close to hitting” Martinez, according to the lawsuit.
Harroun was “apparently frustrated” with Martinez, “who was not moving quickly enough” because of her disability, which became acute after a 2018 car accident, according to the complaint. Martinez was trying to navigate an icy and snow-covered pavement at the time.
Harroun got out of his vehicle and “aggressively” berated Martinez, yelling in her face, the lawsuit said. Martinez told Harroun that she was disabled, that she carried a can of mace for protection and that “he needed to back up.”
Instead, according to the complaint, Harroun punched Martinez in the face, grabbed her arm and slammed her to the ground. Harroun “continued to punch her in the face and neck multiple times while she cried out in pain and lay helpless on the ground.”
Bystanders intervened, shouting at Harroun, and called 911. Harroun pulled his badge and identified himself as an Aurora police officer, the complaint said, stating that Martinez was under arrest and she was “going to jail.” Other officers arrived on the scene and Harroun was arrested. That assault case is ongoing.
The lawsuit claims that Harroun was improperly trained by Aurora police, that Harroun had been involved in a police shooting a month prior to the incident with Martinez, and that officers had responded to a “call for service” at Harroun’s home a week prior to the Martinez incident. The City of Aurora is also named in the lawsuit.
“Harroun exhibited behaviors — both while on-duty amongst other officers and supervisors and in his private life — which obviated the fact that he was unfit for duty and incapable to exercising reasonable discretion with respect to the use of force,” the lawsuit claims.
Aurora police declined comment Friday, citing the internal affairs investigation and the pending lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Denver.
The lawsuit claims that Harroun’s actions were, in part, based on perceiving Martinez as Hispanic, and the incident was racially motivated. Inadequate police training “contributed” to Harroun’s use of “inappropriate and excessive force.”
Martinez was taken to a hospital after the incident, where she was treated and released. She suffered physical and emotional injuries and her 4th Amendment rights, to be free of excessive force, have been violated, according to the lawsuit.
The claim seeks “compensatory” amounts to be determined at trial, noting that Martinez has endured a loss of earnings, and future earnings, as a direct result of the incident.
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