ARVADA, Colo. -- Kelly Etheridge says he's surprised and grateful that authorities charged three former Arvada police officers accused of a covering up an officer punching the handcuffed man and slamming his face into a patrol car.

"I'm very surprised and I thank the Arapahoe County investigators and everybody that did what they had to do to make sure truth got out," the 27-year-old Arvada man told Call7 Investigator John Ferrugia on Thursday.

Etheridge, who served 42 days in jail after the three officers arrested him for assaulting a police officer and obstructing police during the Jan. 25 incident, also praised Arvada police leaders for requesting the outside investigation by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.

"I guess not everybody can be perfect, but it's good know that they're doing what they can to make sure that things are right," he said. "I'm very grateful for that, very grateful."

Two of the three officers charged in the case were involved in separate 2008 incidents involving accusations of illegal entry and excessive force, requiring the city to pay settlements totaling $430,000, city officials confirmed Thursday.

In Etheridge beating case, all three officers were charged in a summons issued Wednesday, Jefferson County district attorney spokeswoman Pam Russell said.

Charles Humphrey, 31, was charged with four misdemeanors -- one count of third-degree assault, one count of duty failure to report use of force by a peace officer, first-degree official misconduct, and false reporting to authorities.

Whitney Bauma, 29, and Noah Rolfing, 28, were both charged with one count of duty failure to report use of force by a peace officer, first-degree official misconduct, and false reporting to authorities.

Read the three former officers reports.

The case resulted in the resignations of six officers, the department said without identifying officers who were not charged. Arvada police Chief Don Wick said an internal administrative investigation is ongoing.

Etheridge said Humprhey assaulted him after police showed up at an apartment where he was celebrating a buddy's birthday with friends. Etheridge, who admitted he was intoxicated, said a woman friend got mad at him for bad-mouthing her ex-husband and chased him outside.

"She basically wailed on my face," Etheridge said.

Etheridge said the woman punched him, breaking his nose and he slipped on ice while trying to get away and suffered a small cut on his cheek.

But he said the police officers accused him of being the aggressor.

"The police showed up and they're asking: 'Why'd you hit her? Why'd you beat her up?' " he recounted. "She admitted that I never touched her.”

The woman also admitted she punched Etheridge in the nose, but he declined to press charges, according to the officers’ account.

While police were inside the apartment questioning the woman, Etheridge said he took off and began walking home.

The officers tracked him down and handcuffed him, their police reports said.

The officers admitted in their reports they had no reason to arrest the Etheridge.

But Rolfing wrote that because Etheridge was intoxicated and had been injured by his friend, the officer decided to take him to a detoxification center to sober up.

“I did not feel it was safe for him to be walking down the streets,” Rolfing wrote, noting that it was a windy, subfreezing night.

The trouble began as Rolfing patted down the man for weapons as he leaned face-forward on the trunk of the patrol car, handcuffed behind his back, the officers’ reports state.

The officers said Etheridge began threatening Bauma, a female officer, saying: “Take the handcuffs off and I will punch that bitch in the face,” Rolfing wrote in his report.

During the pat down, the officers wrote the man began pushing himself off the car trunk with his torso and began to “lunge” and “launched” at Bauma.

Etheridge denies ever threatening Bauma or attempting to harm her.

All three officers wrote that Etheridge then intentionally spit bloody saliva on the sleeve of Humphrey’s uniform.

"It was a total accident," Etheridge said. "My nose was pouring blood."

The officers wrote that Humphrey wiped the spit off on Etheridge’s head, then helped Rolfing press the man down on the trunk of the car so the search could be completed.

Etheridge, however, said Humphrey beat him until he saw stars and nearly blacked out.

"He basically turned me around and … clocked me right in the face and took my face and slammed it against the police car as hard as he could," Etheridge said. "I just basically got beat up while I'm handcuffed."

This isn’t the first time Humphrey and Bauma were accused of misconduct.

In May 2008, Humphrey and other officers were accused of illegally entering a home in the early morning hours and rousting a sleeping Gerald Schlenker, 49, according to a federal lawsuit. The police went to the home to arrest a younger man who’d been involved in a bar altercation.

Yet, the officers called paramedics to take Schlenker -- who was accused of no crime -- to a hospital for a mental evaluation, said the man’s attorney Darold Killmer.

"He is strapped down to a gurney at the police officers’ direction and injected with drugs,” Killmer said.

Schlenker accused the police of forcing him to be “medically treated against his will” by the paramedics and later at a local hospital, city officials said in a statement Thursday.

Killmer said his client was released the next day without explanation.

“We filed a civil rights lawsuit saying it’s wrong for cops to break into people’s houses in the middle of the night and kidnap them,” the attorney said.

The city settled the lawsuit for $330,000 a month ago, Killmer said.

The city also settled two lawsuits for a total $100,000 stemming from police handling of a noise disturbance at an Arvada house party in September 2008, according to Arvada officials and court records.

The lawsuits accused several officers, including Humphrey and Bauma, of illegal entering the home and excessive force, according to the city statement and court records.

"Because we were uncertain of the outcome" if the cases went to trial, the city agreed to settle the cases without admitting wrong doing, Mayor Pro Tem Bob Dyer said in the statement.

“The past week has been an extremely difficult period for the entire City of Arvada organization, but particularly the Arvada Police Department,” Dyer said. “Speaking on behalf of the entire City Council, I am grateful to Chief Don Wick for having the courage to aggressively pursue any and all appropriate actions against those officers involved in misconduct.”

Wick has vowed a full and fair investigation in the Etheridge case, where several officers were accused of aiding in the cover up.

"There are allegations of misconduct by officers lying to their supervisor, lying in an official police report either directly or through omission and lying in an investigative proceeding," the police chief said in a Sept. 3 statement.

"This behavior cannot and will not be tolerated," Wick said.

Humphrey will be arraigned on Nov. 2, Bauma will be arraigned on Nov. 3 and Rolfing will be arraigned on Nov. 4.