FILE – In this screen grab taken from July 23, 2021, police body camera video provided by the Aurora Police Department, Officer John Haubert points a gun to the head of Kyle Vinson during an arrest in Aurora, Colo. Haubert is on trial over the violent arrest and opening statements are expected Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Aurora Police Department via AP, File) 
FILE – Kyle Vinson, left, stands with his attorney Qusair Mohamedbhai, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Denver. Aurora Police Officer John Haubert is on trial over a violent arrest of Vinson and opening statements are expected Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) 
Aurora Police body cam screen grabs that investigators say show Aurora Police Officer John Haubert pistol whipping and strangling a trespassing suspect July 23, 2012. Haubert and another officer face felony charges in the incident. 
Aurora Police body cam screen grabs that investigators say show Aurora Police Officer John Haubert pistol whipping and strangling a trespassing suspect July 23, 2012. Haubert faces felony charges in the incident. 
John Haubert 
Aurora Police body cam screen grabs that investigators say show Aurora Police Officer John Haubert pistol whipping and strangling a trespassing suspect July 23, 2012. Haubert and another officer face felony charges in the incident.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been corrected to point out that Officer John Haubert resigned from the Aurora Police Department. He was not fired.”
CENTENNIAL | An Aurora police officer charged with using excessive and unreasonable force in the 2021 arrest of a Black man — pointing his gun at the man’s head and repeatedly hitting the man with his gun — was found not guilty by a jury Thursday of all charges.
John Haubert, 39, who has since resigned from the Aurora Police Department, faced charges of attempted first-degree assault, second-degree assault, felony menacing, official oppression and first-degree official misconduct in connection with the arrest of 29-year-old Kyle Vinson.
Haubert was emotional while the judge read the jury’s consecutive not-guilty findings.
“While we are disappointed in the verdict, we respect the jury’s decision. We have a duty to investigate and prosecute cases we believe we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial,” District Attorney John Kellner said in a statement. “This verdict does not change our commitment to seeking justice for victims.”
Qusair Mohamedbhai, an attorney representing Vinson, said Vinson was grateful for the work of Kellner and prosecutors, though he was disappointed by the verdict.
“Mr. Vinson is proud of the efforts he has undertaken to raise awareness of police violence, and this does not change the sad reality that the police department has significant steps it still needs to undertake to rebuild community trust,” Mohamedbhai said. “Mr. Vinson is appreciative that our police department severed its relationship with Officer Haubert.”
The episode garnered worldwide notice and has figured prominently in police reform efforts underway in the city.
The incident started as a trespassing call at 3138 S. Parker Road, where Haubert and fellow Aurora officer Francine Martinez, 40, detained Vinson and two other men wanted on felony warrants.
Martinez was found guilty last April of failing to intervene while her partner strangled and pistol-whipped Vinson, the first ruling of its kind following a state law making officers criminally liable for such inaction.
“You can see the fear on his face,” Jade Hoisington told jurors after playing body-worn camera footage showing the violent arrest of Vinson by Haubert. Hoisington also showed photos of the welts left on Vinson’s head.
During the trial process, Vinson testified that he thought he might die after mistakenly believing Haubert had accused him of having a gun, when Haubert in fact said he had one pointed at the back of Vinson’s head. Vinson looked down as body camera video of the arrest was played while he was on the witness stand, seated just a few feet from Haubert.
Vinson, now serving a prison sentence in another case, said he had initially refused to come to court to testify against Haubert.
“I don’t like reliving it a lot. Usually I feel like people who are in this situation with police brutality are dead,” Vinson said. The judge did not allow him to continue along those lines after the defense objected.
The defense argued that Haubert had the right to use his gun like he would use a baton because Vinson tried to grab Haubert’s firearm — something that prosecutors denied he did.
Hoisington said Vinson, who had a warrant for his arrest in a domestic violence case at the time of his arrest, remained in a defensive stance during the encounter and put his hands up to try to protect himself.
Defense lawyer Kristen Frost presented a still photo made from video that Vinson acknowledged showed three of his fingers on Haubert’s gun. But Vinson said he was not trying to grab it.
In questioning Vinson, Frost pointed out that he did not initially cooperate by getting on his stomach when Haubert ordered him to do so.
Frost also argued that Haubert did not strangle Vinson, putting his hand on Vinson’s neck to hold him down but not wrapping his fingers around it.
Then-police chief Vanessa Wilson was harshly critical of Haubert and Martinez after the incident came to light, ultimately firing Martinez. Haubert resigned.
“We’re disgusted,” she said at a news conference in July 2021. “We’re angry. This is not police work … We don’t train this. It’s not acceptable.”
As Martinez attempted to place one of the men accused of trespassing into handcuffs, he and another man freed themselves and ran away.
Haubert then tried to place Vinson into handcuffs, telling him to roll onto his stomach as he pressed the barrel of his pistol against the back of his head. Vinson initially complied, according to video and an account written by Aurora detective Ethan Snow, who wrote the 15-page affidavit seeking a warrant for Haubert’s arrest.
“Officer Haubert continued to press his duty pistol against Mr. Vinson’s head despite Mr. Vinson’s compliance,” Snow wrote. Vinson then tried to free one of his arms from the arresting officers “while squirming his body.”
Haubert proceeded to get on top of Vinson and struck his head with his gun more than a dozen times, creating multiple gashes around his face and head. By the end of the encounter, Vinson’s neon green shirt was covered with blood. Vinson has since filed a civil lawsuit against Haubert and APD, seeking damages for his injuries.
As the struggle continued, according to the document, Haubert put his hands around Vinson’s neck for at least 39 seconds. Haubert repeatedly threatened to shoot Vinson and told him to stop resisting, even though Snow determined: “It did not appear that Mr. Vinson had made any attempts to fight Officer Haubert.”
Through labored breathing, Vinson told Haubert “you’re killing me” and repeatedly asked the officer not to shoot him.
Throughout the encounter, Vinson repeatedly tells officers that there is no warrant for his arrest and “you have the wrong guy.”
Police officials later clarified that Vinson was wanted for felony strangulation in connection with a domestic violence incident in Denver, though he likely didn’t know there was a warrant for his arrest as it may have been tied to a probation violation.
Other officers eventually responded to the scene, and one officer shot Vinson in the leg with a stun gun. He was placed into handcuffs and medically evaluated moments later.
“Mr. Vinson stated over and over again that he can’t breathe,” Snow wrote.
When conversing with other officers who arrived as Vinson was apprehended, Haubert could be heard saying “All that blood on him is from me f****** pistol whipping him … I was wailing the f*** out of him,” according to the affidavit.
Though doctors determined that Vinson did not sustain “serious bodily injury” in the encounter, he sustained multiple cuts and bruises to his neck and face, and he received six stitches for a 2-inch gash on the left side of his head. He also incurred a large welt on his right temple.
In March of 2009, Haubert was accused of DUI, felony menacing and a misdemeanor weapons charge for being drunk with a gun, court records show. He pleaded guilty to the weapons charge in October of that year. The other charges were dismissed.
Haubert was sentenced to three months of probation, 24 hours of community service, and ordered to pay court fees in the 2009 case.
— The Associated Press contributed to this story.
this is so obviously a miscarriage of justice.
The video doesn’t lie.
His partner was convicted.
Who the hell were these jurors anyway?
Not Guilty? Not hardly!
The video doesn’t lie. It shows only part of what is happening. If you examine the video closely, you will find that it backs up the officer’s claims. The other videos that no one ever saw don’t lie either. They back up the officer’s story. You only get part of the truth from people in charge.
Since I volunteered to be an expert witness for free, I was privy to all of the evidence. Luckily, they were able to prove Haubert’s case without my testimony. I just read the sad statement by APD about how they conducted a thorough investigation. From the start, it was obvious that APD (probably pushed by Chief Wilson) made a rush to judgment where none of the normal processes were followed. The officers were charged before they were even interviewed. The detective knew that the supposed victim, Kyle Vinson lied in a brief interview before he asked for a lawyer. There was never any real interview with Vinson. Further, Detective Snow charged the officers before he even picked up two business videos that showed the whole resistance in detail. Worse, he said that they didn’t really show anything different. He failed to enlarge and slow down those videos. As a result, attorneys ignored those videos and Officer Martinez was convicted without the truth being known. There is a thing in the law and in investigations called exculpatory evidence. That is evidence that tends to show the innocence of the accused. Everyone in the system is supposed to bring forth that evidence out of fairness to any accused. That was not done by the detective or the DA’s office. Detective Snow is a homicide detective. His investigation was as poor as I have seen a recruit do. I have been a detective supervisor. The next question is how the detective’s supervisors and the upper staff of APD could have ever allowed such an inadequate investigation to proceed. A resisting felon who should have been charged with resisting arrest and attempting to disarm an officer was paid $850,000 by the City. The trauma to two police officers who were doing their jobs and met with a drug addict resisting felon can’t be overstated. Bodycams are good but only show part of the action. But, if the detective had used even a smidgeon of good sense, he could have seen that Vinson was guilty. Detective Snow’s affidavit is full of contradictions and misleading statements. Even at that, he admitted that Vinson resisted arrest and swatted at the officer’s gun before he was hit. The other unseen video shows Vinson grab at the gun with his other hand before he was hit. The video goes on to show Vinson repeatedly grab Haubert’s gun. Haubert had to rip his gun out of Vinson’s hand several times. Detective Snow says in his affidavit that Vinson was compliant and no threat to the officers at any point. The unseen video shows Vinson kicking at Haubert several times as well as continually reaching for his gun. There are other issues that Detective Snow failed to pursue. Vinson had about forty fentanyl pills in his bag and those were just ignored by Detective Snow. Having been the jail supervisor and a watch commander, I fail to understand how that can happen. The procedure has always been to field test the drugs and to get ahold of a Vice and Narcotics detective for any significant amount. In most cases. the Vice and Narcotics Unit then files the case on the drugs and the other charges.
There is more, but I won’t go on. Let me say that the lack of competence and integrity shown by Detective Snow and the APD brass borders on criminal. They destroyed the lives of two officers to quickly join the popular narrative. Is it any wonder that someone might hesitate to become a police officer?
“In March of 2009, Haubert was accused of DUI, felony menacing and a misdemeanor weapons charge for being drunk with a gun, court records show”
This is a guy who should have been fired from the police department long ago.
In what capacity did you appear as an expert witness?
I told you so.
Let me add this. As a former police officer and a citizen, I am very tired of the lies that the public are fed by those in charge. I challenge the Aurora Police Department to discuss with me, in a public forum, the investigation that they did into the case involving former officers Martinez and Haubert and Kyle Vinson. They won’t do it. Like all people in charge who lack integrity, they simply lie to cover their own incompetence. To lie and to continue to damage the lives of two officers you already despicably disparaged shows incredible evil. To say that you are law enforcement and hold a responsibility to justice means that you should be way above this type of dishonesty. I wore the uniform proudly. It disgust me to see them dishonor that uniform.
It isn’t something new. When Columbine occurred, they told you that it was handled the way it was because procedures called for “Time, Talk, Tactics” and suddenly now they would adopt new tactics. The informal policy was really that when people are being shot, we go. I was in SWAT at the time. Officers all over the country watched the Columbine incident and said “What are they doing? What are they waiting for?”
When it was revealed that the City was issuing tickets for revenue in Ferguson after Michael Brown’s death, there was great uproar. City leaders everywhere expressed their horror. It was, however, common practice. It was so prevalent in Aurora, that the sergeants were threatened with discipline if they did not require their officers to write more traffic tickets. The order also told us that the tickets must be written into the municipal court and not the county so the city could get the money.
Anyway, I am disgusted with police, city, and national leaders who will lie to make themselves look better. It is done at the expense of everyone.
This Haubert guy aced the Strangling 101 part of the police academy with flying colors, I guess. Another of Aurora’s finest carrying out APD’s business as usual, and another amazing jury of fine upstanding Aurora residents somehow led to believe that this is just normal police work. This verdict should surprise no one.
If you just hate the police and don’t care about facts or justice, there is nothing we can say.
Or perhaps these citizens, good and true, heard and saw all the evidence, evidence not presented to you by the Sentinel which loves to carve of the A.P.D. with half-truths and salacious innuendo, and they decided the Officer did not violate the criminal law. there is still an open question, of course, as to whether Mr. Mohamedbhai can harvest yet more fees from City coffers, fees desperately needed elsewhere.
When facts conflict with your agenda……