If police are to be held accountable for excessive force, civilians should be, too

In 2021, Denver recorded 96 homicides, the highest number in 40 years. It was 95 in 2020 and is trending similar for 2022.

As much as politicians would like to ignore it, Denverites can’t. How many of us personally know people who have been shot, robbed, their home broken into, their catalytic converter stolen from their car — or the vehicle itself stolen? How many of us have witnessed open drug dealing? Seen discarded needles in public places?

Fortunately, Denver is still a beautiful place with large idyllic areas. But the rise in crime could change all this and cannot be denied. Yes, Denver may be part of a larger national trend, but it neither helps Denverites nor excuses its leaders from acting.

Against this backdrop, we’re getting mixed messages about the use of force and firearms.

One of 2021’s 96 murders was that of Lee Keltner. Earlier this month, second degree murder charges were dropped against the killer, Matthew Dolloff, an armed citizen hired as security by a local media outfit.

Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said that her office felt that Dolloff’s self-defense claim would be insurmountable in court. This was a bold move, considering the incident was captured on camera. A cynical person might suggest that the DA is protecting its conviction rate rather than allowing a jury to decide.

But that aside: What was witnessed on camera was a loud confrontation resulting in one man spraying bear spray and another man shooting a gun. Even if Dolloff were acting in self-defense — or, technically speaking, in defense of another person, namely the cameraman — what are we saying as a society when lethal force is deemed acceptable in the face of a non-lethal threat?

This is a scary portent for a city that has always prided itself on its humanity and livability. Keltner himself was reported to be carrying a firearm, along with other weapons. The core issue here is the over-arming of civilians and the ever-increasing military-like arming of police. But this is the reality, and this is Denver’s mental reset: With so many deadly weapons on the streets, we must adjust our definition of the reasonable use of lethal force.

Perhaps Dolloff, after being slapped, felt threatened. The spray likely impaired his vision. Perhaps he thought Keltner was reaching for a weapon, given the proliferation of weapons on the streets. But why was Dollof himself armed? There’s a “Wild West” feeling to it all.

At the heart of the racial protests of 2020 was the issue of undue force by police against people of color. In many of the cases where lethal force had been used, the victims were in the process of committing a crime. The criminals may have used threatening language or made threatening movements — as Keltner did. Does that mean that deadly force was justified?

If we are going to — rightly — hold police accountable for excessive force resulting in death, we must do exactly the same for civilians.

We cannot fight a crime wave and bemoan the violent thread pulsing through society while giving killers a free pass. If a self-defense argument is going to be used, it must be believable, and it should be a jury that makes the determination, not merely a prosecutor.

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