Inset: Victor Moses. Background: Moses is pinned by an officer during “Fight Day” training at the Denver Police Department academy in 2023 (Court documents)
A former Denver Police Department recruit had his legs amputated after severe injuries he suffered in a “barbaric hazing ritual” known as “Fight Day” at the police academy last year, his lawsuit alleges. Victor Moses, 29, suffered permanent physical and mental pain that has left him learning to walk again with prosthetics and requires someone to help him dress, shower and use the toilet, the lawsuit filed on Tuesday said.
“It is extremely hard to find the will to keep living,” he said in court papers. “Saying my life has been ruined is a complete understatement. I had everything going for me in life and it was all taken away. I have had many thoughts of not wanting to live.”
The lawsuit, which seeks an undisclosed amount, names the City and County of Denver, seven technicians and four officers from the Denver Police Department, and two Denver Health and Hospital Authority paramedics.
The Denver Police Department and Denver Health declined to comment, citing pending litigation, The Associated Press reported.
“Safety and well-being is a top priority for Denver Health and its paramedics,” the hospital said in a statement.
A media representative from the City Attorney’s Office for the City and County of Denver did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
Moses was hurt when he ran the gauntlet on “fight day” at the city’s police academy on Jan. 6, 2023. The event purportedly is set up to provide police arrest and seizure training, but in reality, it has become a “barbaric hazing ritual,” court documents said.
In the four-stage event, Denver police recruits must endure extreme exertion while being subjected to a series of violent assaults, the lawsuit said. Each recruit must complete all four stations before they can become a police officer.
Moses completed Station 1 fatigued but went on to Station 2, the Baton Endurance Drill. In this stage, recruits are attacked by staff members wielding 2-by-2-foot padded bags, court documents said. Moses was hit and knocked down multiple times by “very aggressive officers,” the lawsuit said.
At one point, an officer hit Moses so hard that he drove him off a large mat, causing him to fall over and slam his head on the hard tile floor, court documents said.
Despite that, Moses continued even after collapsing multiple times and losing consciousness, the lawsuit alleges. Some of the technicians named in the lawsuit allegedly lifted him so he would complete Station 2. When he collapsed again, a safety officer called paramedics stationed near the drills to check on him.
“Paramedic defendants saw that Mr. Moses was unable to even stand up or freely move, even after he again briefly regained consciousness in their presence,” court documents said. “Moses was described by staff to POST inspectors as having ‘spaghetti legs’ and ‘unable to get up.””
Moses, who has sickle cell trait (SCT), told paramedics he was “extremely fatigued” and experiencing “extreme leg cramping,” a well-known danger sign for people with SCT, as military and police training protocols widely recognized, court documents said.
Despite the danger signs, paramedics cleared him to keep fighting.
Officers tried to get Moses to his feet to walk to Station 3, but he still could not stand.
“Victor Moses was unable to meaningfully participate in the Station 3 drill, in which a trained officer mounts the recruit, and the recruit is supposed to try to break free,” the lawsuit said.
One of the trainers began “ground fighting” and wrestling with Moses, hitting him in the head several times. About 30 seconds into Station 3, while that officer was putting his body weight and pressure on him, Moses gasped, “I can’t breathe.”
He “became limp” and unresponsive and was taken to the hospital, according to the lawsuit.
At the hospital, unconscious and near death, the paramedics and officers who were with Moses lied to doctors about how he got hurt, the lawsuit alleges.
“In response to repeated questions by the emergency medical team about Mr. Moses’s injuries and the cause, Denver police officials and paramedics repeatedly falsely stated that Moses had not experienced ‘direct trauma,’” the lawsuit alleges.
Moses was in the hospital for four months. He underwent numerous surgical and medical procedures, court documents said. Both of his legs were amputated just below the knee.
The lawsuit describes his new struggle with prostheses that often cause him to bleed when he uses them, requiring him to endure the daily risk of infection and further amputation, the lawsuit said.
“The pain he has consistently experienced is truly incomprehensible, requiring daily high doses of pain and other medications,” court documents said.
His attorney, John Holland, told the AP that “Fight Day” encourages Denver police to engage in brutality and to be indifferent to the injuries they inflict.
“If this had been a football game or boxing match, the head injury and losses of consciousness would have ended any continued participation or fighting immediately,” he told the wire service.
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