A lawsuit was filed Friday in Denver District Court against two Glendale police officers who shot and killed a man in a pickup in traffic on Colorado Boulevard.
The 23-page complaint and jury demand, filed on the behalf of the mother and estate of John Pacheaco Jr., names officers Neal McCormick and Chandler Phillips, claiming that McCormick lied when he stated that Pacheaco’s truck had hit him Oct. 31, 2020, the night of the shooting.
“Phillips also falsely claimed that he saw the Dodge strike Officer McCormick,” the lawsuit alleges. “The officers were dishonest in their statements to investigators regarding the shooting.”
Pacheaco had fallen asleep with the truck still running as traffic moved around it. McCormick and Phillips responded to the scene. When Pacheaco awoke, he drove forward, hitting a parked patrol car. The truck went into reverse as gunfire erupted.
A video clip, taken by a witness and posted on Twitter, was viewed by investigators with the Denver and Aurora police departments, and Denver district attorney’s office. The video “reflects several shots being fired at the approximate time that the truck reverses,” according to a police shooting decision letter on the incident, which cleared the officers of criminal charges in May.
