COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A Colorado Springs veteran experiencing homelessness and living out of his car at the time of a violent encounter with police in late 2022 that left him injured has settled with the city for $2.1 million, according to his attorney.
Dalvin Gadson was driving a vehicle at approximately 15 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone in the early hours of Oct. 9, 2022, when an officer stopped him after noticing the car had no visible license plate, a news release from the Colorado Springs Police Department stated at the time.
Officers would conduct a DUI investigation after an odor of cannabis was noticed coming from the vehicle which quickly escalated after Gadson allegedly refused to leave the vehicle so officers could conduct a sobriety test.
A probable cause statement in the case also described Gadson kicking officers as they tried to apprehend him.
Body camera video of the arrest would later show an officer slapping the then-29-year-old man in the head and an officer telling other officers that the suspect had been “hit in the head quite a bit,” grinning as he explained to the others what had happened moments prior.
"It turned into the worst nightmare I could ever imagine," Gadson told Denver7 in December of that year.
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Harry Daniels, the man’s attorney, called for a statewide criminal investigation into the officers’ actions and the three officers involved in his arrest, later identified as Officers Matthew Anderson, Colby Hickman, and Christopher Hummel, were found to have acted within department policy at the time. A lawsuit was the filed in the case.
Additionally, in October of 2023, the United States Department of Justice referred the case for investigation to determine whether Gadson was racially profiled, and if the officers were guilty of misconduct in office for using excessive force.
On Tuesday, members of Colorado Springs City Council voted 7-1 to settle his lawsuit, granting the victim $2.1 million in damages. His attorney applauded the decision, calling the settlement “a warning to all those who think their badges entitle them to brutalize the men and women they’ve sworn to protect and serve.”
“Let’s be clear. This is an important day for Dalvin Gadson and for all the people of Colorado Springs. But that doesn’t mean the fight is done,” Daniels said in a statement Tuesday. “We will continue working with the Department of Justice in their investigation and we will not stop until justice is done.”
The three officers involved Gadson's arrest remain employed "and in good standing with CSPD," a spokesperson from the department said Tuesday.
KOAA News5's Aidan Hulting contributed to this report.
