‘Slapped the Ever-living F— out of This Dude’: White Colorado Springs Cop Punched Navy Vet Over 20 Times, Raptured His Eardrum. The City Reached a $2.1M Settlement

The Colorado Springs City Council has approved a $2.1 million settlement with a Black man who filed an excessive force lawsuit after he was severely beaten by three Colorado Springs police officers two years ago.

The council approved the massive settlement by a 7-1 vote, with one council member absent.

The brutal arrest on Oct. 9, 2022, left 29-year-old Navy veteran Dalvin Gadson bloodied with two black eyes and a ruptured eardrum, leading to a lawsuit in federal court.

The lawsuit named Colorado Springs officers Colby J. Hickman, Matthew Anderson and Christopher K. Hummel.

To make the settlement final, the city plans to pay out a $1 million deductible from a reserve fund devoted to covering legal claims, while the remaining amount will be paid to Gadson by a separate insurer, according to KRDO13.

For now, the settlement marks the conclusion to litigation over the vicious arrest that began when Gadson was pulled over for driving slowly and failing to display his license plates.

Three officers involved in the traffic stop and arrest initially suspected Gadson had been driving under the influence after they allegedly smelled marijuana and accused the man of slurring his words.

Gadson went into great detail of the incident in a GoFundMe launched soon after the incident.

“I have been homeless for about 3-4 months, just sleeping in my car doing Doordash until my money was saved enough to get an apartment,” he said. “I was staying at the Springs Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter near downtown Colorado Springs.
While sleeping, a stranger (Carlos) knocked on my car window, and when I had awoken, he asked me if I could take him to his job close by for 20 dollars. I needed the money, so I said yes. While driving him to his destination, I was pulled over by the police.”

The situation intensified when Gadson questioned why he should exit his vehicle as instructed, leading to a physical altercation with the officers.

Eventually, Gadson was forcibly removed from his car and pounded to the ground, resulting in severe injuries that put him in the hospital .

Court documents obtained by Law and Crime revealed that Anderson hit the driver over 20 times with a closed fist as Hummel restrained Gadson’s left arm.

During the incident Hummel was heard saying “I slapped the ever-living f— out of this dude.” Other officers were heard laughing while another stated, “I [EXPLETIVE] drew down on him when you were hitting him.”

“It’s difficult to listen to these officers laugh and joke about beating a veteran to a bloody mess and drawing their firearm on an unarmed man,” said Gadson’s attorney Harry Daniels in a statement at the time of the incident. Adding that “They beat him mercilessly.”

The same night Gadson was booked on charges of second-degree assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, obstruction, driving under the influence, and driving without license plates.

However, after police bodycam footage exposed potential misconduct, these charges were ultimately dropped in January 2023 by the District Attorney of the 4th Judicial Circuit, and Gadson was only required to pay a fine of $15 for the missing plates.

At the same time, the department launched an internal review into the hostile incident, and in August 2023, concluded that Officers Colby Hickman, Christopher Hummel, and Matthew Anderson did not use excessive force in violation of department standards.

All three officers involved remain employed with the department and are currently in good standing, Colorado Springs Police officials confirmed last week.

The internal review determined that some of the officers’ actions were justified but that they violated department policy by handling Gadson roughly and then standing around joshing with each other instead of seeking immediate medical attention.

Following the council’s decision to settle the case, Gadson’s attorneys, including Harry Daniels, issued a strongly worded statement criticizing law enforcement and calling the payout “a warning to all those who think their badges entitle them to brutalize the men and women they’ve sworn to protect and serve.”

“You are not above the law, and if your own department refuses to hold you accountable, we will,” the attorneys wrote, noting that they were continuing to work with the Justice Department as part of an ongoing federal investigation.

“We will not stop until justice is done,” Gadson’s legal team continued. “This kind of violence is unacceptable whether it happens in Camden County, Georgia, or Colorado Springs. The American people won’t stand for it.”

‘Slapped the Ever-living F— out of This Dude’: White Colorado Springs Cop Punched Navy Vet Over 20 Times, Raptured His Eardrum. The City Reached a $2.1M Settlement