Homeless advocate paid $130,000 for Denver police settlements blasts Englewood City Council

Regan Benson drives around the Denver area looking for cops that she believes are up to no good.Photo byRegan Benson

An advocate for people experiencing homelessness who recently won $130,000 in settlements from the City and County of Denver for violating her civil rights rubbed it in the noses this week of the Englewood City Council.

Regan Benson informed the council Monday of her windfall during public comment period. She said she has had multiple problems with Englewood police, too, while assisting people experiencing homelessness.

She said police recently responded after Benson called for a medical emergency for a man in duress. She said police were not needed.

She said the police are conspiring with the “control freak factory library.” She said she heard that Police Chief Sam Watson is retiring “and I hope he takes a bunch of dirty cops with him.”

Benson told the council that despite all her complaints about police, nobody from the city will respond. She asked them why they tolerate such poor behavior by police officers. No one responded.

YouTube videos feature officers in the field

Benson deals with police and courts issues all the time. Recently she was detained by Arapahoe County Sheriff’s deputies for filming her interaction with a security guard with her cell phone at the courthouse.

“You can have contact with me, detain me, and I don’t have a right to record you and I can’t get the body cam footage without paying you hundreds of dollars?” Benson asks rhetorically in a video. “No, we’re not doing that.”

Benson has 23,000 followers on YouTube. On one hot day this week, she drove around and passed out bottles of water to parched people experiencing homelessness.

Benson’s lawyer, Andy McNulty, provided the author of this article with paperwork regarding the Denver settlements. In the Denver Police Chief’s written command on the Denver incident, he concludes “Members of the public including but not limited to representatives of the media and bystanders, have a First Amendment right to observe and record officers in public places, as long as their interactions do not interfere with the officer’s duties or the safety of officers or others. Officers should assume they are being recorded at all times on duty in a public place.”

Officers familiar with Benson’s antics

In the report, the chief writes that officers are familiar with Benson and her husband and their proclivity to film the police. “Her comments are often satirical, profane and vitriolic,” the report states.

Benson and her husband in August 2021 spotted three Denver police cars congregating in a parking lot. They pulled into the lot to videotape and police immediately approached them. One of the officer's violated the instructions surrounding the First Amendment right to videotape, the chief concluded. The officer also violated policy by submitting to the state a request for a driver’s license re-examination. This invalidated Benson’s husband’s driver’s license, and he was not aware of it until stopped later by police for an unrelated matter. The recertification request later was cancelled, and the driver's license suspension reversed, according to the chief's statement.

“Officer Schall’s mischaracterization of Mr. Benson on the reexamination form was dishonest,” the chief wrote. Schall received 10 days’ suspension. The City and County of Denver paid the Bensons $100,000.

The video on YouTube showing the Bensons interacting with Denver Police has 3,800 views. The Bensons use profanity during the encounter. At one point Benson calls an officer "a fuc*ing idiot."

Board locks activist out of public meetings

In a second case, Benson attended a Citizen’s Advisory Board meeting and spoke out against police misconduct. “In response to her speech that was critical of the police, she was banned from attend all future CAB meetings,” according to a statement from McNulty. “She brought a lawsuit seeking to be allowed back into meetings. This settlement acknowledges her right to attend CAB meetings and criticize the police during them, along with providing $30,000 to Ms. Benson for the harm she endured from DPD’s actions.”

Benson said she admits to having survivor guilt over the settlement. “Only time will tell, along with proper leadership, if this result will have any lasting impact for these actions and department encouraged behavior, to cease,” she said in a statement. “This type of retaliation has long been embedded in the climate and culture of the entire Denver Police department. While exceptionally deceptive, this is a mild case of police retaliation by those that are sworn to uphold and protect our rights. They failed, once again. I do not ever want to forget or minimize those who have lost their lives or physically/emotionally suffered eternally due to law enforcement misconduct. For this, I remain exceptionally grateful to all of the upstanding and committed civil rights attorneys in Colorado and across the nation. “