DENVER (KDVR) — A federal judge has denied a request to extend the temporary restraining order currently preventing the Denver Police Department from using less lethal weapons against peaceful protesters.
Judge R. Brooke Jackson instructed the plaintiffs and the City and County of Denver to reach a compromise before the TRO expires on Friday.
The court is expected to make a ruling before Friday based on the expected compromise between the City and the plaintiffs.
“The parties, if they set aside the extremes on both sides, should be able to reach an agreement that accomplishes mutually desired goals. If the parties, despite their respective statements that they have similar goals, cannot reach an agreement, then they may submit their respective proposed orders, and the Court will likely enter the order or a version of it that is the most reasonable,” Jackson wrote Wednesday.
Jackson is the same judge who granted the TRO earlier this month.
It prohibits DPD from using projectiles and chemical weapons against peaceful protesters.
The order also applies to agencies working with DPD.
In his initial decision, Jackson said DPD “failed in its duty to police its own” in response to demonstrations.
READ: Full text of temporary restraining order
The restraining order prohibits officers from “employing chemical weapons or projectiles of any kind against persons engaging in peaceful protests or demonstrations.”
Such tactics could be used, however, if “an on-scene supervisor at the rank of Captain or above specifically authorizes such use of force in response to specific acts of violence or destruction of property that the command officer has personally witnessed.”
