DENVER (AP) - The family of a man killed by a Rocky Ford police officer who was convicted of second-degree murder says the tiny department is to blame for hiring him despite his troubled history.
Relatives of 27-year-old Jack Jacquez filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal court. It says the department failed to discipline former officer James Ashby for other excessive force cases before he killed Jacquez in October 2014. Ashby was on duty when he followed Jacquez into his mother’s home and shot him in the back.
Rocky Ford police did not immediately return a call for comment.
The suit says the department hired Ashby despite well-documented problems at another small police force, where he resigned during an excessive force investigation. It points to a pattern of complaints and violent conflicts involving Ashby.
Ashby is awaiting sentencing.
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