A trio of Grand Junction Police Department officers were fired Thursday after an internal investigation confirmed they used pocket knives to slash tents, bicycle tires and clothes lines while searching for a suspect at a transient camp last month.
Officers Justin Roberts, 31, Phil Van Why, 35, and Joseph Mulcahy, 28, however, will not be prosecuted for those same acts, District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said.
Two other officers were handed what Police Chief John Camper called “minor” internal discipline for failing to report what they had heard about the incident.
Camper said the three officers who were fired were cooperative with the internal investigation — a condition of continued employment — but none of them agreed to speak to Mesa County Sheriff’s Department investigators who worked a criminal probe. According to reports generated in the Sheriff’s Department investigation, the three officers declined to speak after retaining attorneys.
Camper told a news conference the officers had failed the department’s standards.
Full story: Three Grand Junction cops fired | GJSentinel.com