DENVER — Police body cameras and vehicle dashboard videos capture tense moments as deputies and police pointed their guns at two electricians who were initially believed to be driving a stolen vehicle, but documents reveal a paperwork mistake led to the ordeal.
9NEWS Investigates learned of the incident in June after the Denver Police Department released discipline documents. The felony stop occurred in April 2023.
Video obtained by 9NEWS shows Larimer and Boulder County deputies pulling over a white van after hitting it with a GPS tracking dart.
Inside the van were Jason Pettison and Ben Drysdale, who found themselves being yelled at by officers as they pointed guns and ordered them to step out with their hands up.
“Really a lot of confusion. I have no idea what's going on,” Pettison said during an interview with 9NEWS. “It's a kind of a surreal experience.”
“I mean, just pretty, pretty scary. Honestly, you know, I had no idea what was going on,” Ben Drysdale said of the experience.
Deputies and police handcuffed Pettison and Drysdale and placed them in the back of police vehicles. Video shows the two men bewildered as a deputy began to explain their work van was marked as a stolen vehicle by the Denver Police Department.
Records show Pettison reported to Denver Police that items were stolen out of his work van a month before the felony stop, however the police report shows the officer marked the entire van as stolen.
License plate readers then picked up images of the van as it traveled through Larimer County, which alerted deputies and police to make the felony stop.
Discipline documents show Denver Police Corporal Christopher Johnson was suspended for two days without pay because of his mistake when he took the report from Pattison.
“Either I misinterpreted, or we had a miscommunication to which I didn’t ask the appropriate follow-up questions,” Corporal Johnson says in the discipline documents.
“I wasn't mad at the policeman by any means, but they're just doing their job. That's what came across their screen. So it's nothing against them,” Drysdale told 9NEWS.
Pattison said he hoped the Denver Police Department gave corrective training to the officer who made the paperwork mistake.
A statement from the Denver Police Department indicates follow-up training was established because of the incident:
“In addition to the suspension, Officer Johnson's supervisor conducted a review/debrief of the incident both after the incident was reported, and following the disciplinary process. Additionally, DPD's Professional Development Unit put together a training module specific to the officer's transgression, which included additional training and verification of understanding. The completion of the training module is documented by the supervisor and maintained in the officer's personnel file. The assigning of follow-up training is a common practice with sustained IA cases, ensuring officers understand proper procedures and reinforcing policy.”
More reporting by Jeremy Jojola:
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