According to an 18-page disciplinary letter written by Deputy Director of Safety Jess Vigil -- the letter is posted along with the story on Channel 4 -- Officer Brian Beary took a runaway teen girl to a juvenile detention facility in Arapahoe County back on Sept. 8, 2015, after her mother couldn't get to the scene in a timely manner when the girl was picked up for trespassing.
The complaint did not come from the girl or her family, but from Arapahoe County Sheriff's Deputies and civilian employees of the juvenile center who witnessed Beary's actions.
The girl began to argue with the staff of the detention facility and Beary when they told her she would have to remove lip and belly button piercings. That part doesn't seem to be in dispute.
But witnesses told investigators that Beary handled the disagreement in an unprofessional and inappropriate manner.
According to the complaint:
- Beary threatened to hold her down and rip out the piercings.
- Beary told her she was probably "trafficked and raped" on the street.
- Beary told her he hoped to never have a child like her, and he wasn't surprised her mother didn't want to come get her.
"Accounts that witnesses provided are consistent and do not provide a flattering portrayal of Officer Beary’s unprofessional and inappropriate interaction with (the girl)," Vigil wrote.
Beary told investigators he spoke to the girl in a calm voice and was just trying to help her understand the impact of her actions so she would change her behavior. He described being confused that the deputies were not helping him restrain the girl.
The letter says that Beary was given several chances to change his story in light of how consistent the witness statements were, and he refused.
Beary was fired for committing a materially deceptive act in the course of an internal affairs investigation.
According to CBS4, the officer is appealing his termination.
"This is yet another example of Jess Vigil placing an officer’s statement under a microscope," the officer's attorney told the station. "At the end of the day the force was justified and Officer Beary passed a polygraph, which has been rejected by the department."
