Colorado\u2019s sweeping police accountability and reform bill passed the state Senate on Tuesday morning with only one Republican vote against the bill.<\/p>\n
Senate Bill 217, sponsored by all of the state\u2019s Democratic lawmakers, goes to the House next and is expected to head to the governor\u2019s desk by the end of the week after the session concludes. The bill passed 32-1, with Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, casting the lone vote against it.<\/p>\n
The bill was introduced in the wake of George Floyd\u2019s killing by police in Minneapolis, and it calls for more transparency and new controls on police use of force. If it becomes law, it will require all officers to use body-worn cameras, ban the use of chokeholds and limit when they are allowed to shoot at a person who is running away, known as the \u201cfleeing felon\u201d statute. Cops also would have to have objective justification for stops, be required to intervene when seeing other officers using excessive force and could be sued as individuals for excessive force allegations. And it removes \u201cqualified immunity,\u201d allowing officers to be sued in their individual capacities over excessive force allegations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we accomplished with Senate Bill 217 serves as a reminder that direct action matters. Protest matters. Black lives matter,\u201d said Elisabeth Epps, an abolitionist with the Colorado Freedom Fund and American Civil Liberties Union of \u00a0Colorado in a statement.<\/p>\n
Read the full story via The Denver Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n