A federal judge green-lit a jury trial this month against multiple Fort Collins police officers on claims that they used excessive force on one man who was standing unarmed in his underwear and retaliated against another man for exercising his First Amendment right to record video.
Several Fort Collins police officers converged late one night on Angel San Roman and Carlos Lopez after suspecting them of being involved in the theft of firearms from a nearby vehicle. San Roman became belligerent and stripped off nearly all of his clothes to demonstrate he had no gun. An officer used a Taser on him anyway.
Lopez kept walking and used his phone to record. Seventeen seconds after an officer contacted him, and immediately after he said he had a right to record, the officer pepper sprayed Lopez…