Jury finds Denver police officer guilty of harassment for striking handcuffed 17-year-old teenager

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Jurors on Friday found a Denver police officer guilty of harassment for striking a handcuffed teenager after an arrest last year.

Dat Truong, 32, a 10-year Denver police officer, will likely be decertified from working as a police officer in Colorado due to the conviction. Jurors deliberated for about an hour before delivering the verdict after a two-day jury trial ended Friday afternoon.

“We are obviously disappointed with the verdict, but thank the jury for their service over two long, difficult days,” defense attorney Ryan Brackley said Friday.

Truong was charged with misdemeanor harassment after he struck a 17-year-old boy whose hands were cuffed behind his back inside a police cruiser on the night of Nov. 3, 2023, near the intersection of East Colfax Avenue and Interstate 225 in Aurora.

Prosecutors said Truong hit the boy out of anger and frustration after the teenager’s disrespectful “smack talking.” As he struck the teenager, the officer cursed at him and confronted him about “running his mouth.”

Truong testified Friday that the strikes were a legitimate use of police force after the teenager turned his body toward the officer and suggested Truong should pull over so they could fight. The handcuffed teenager was buckled into the front seat of Truong’s patrol vehicle because there was not a caged holding area for detainees in the back seat of that particular vehicle.

Truong testified that he believed the teenager posed a threat, and said he shoved the boy back to protect himself, using an open hand. The teenager testified Thursday that the officer punched him with a closed fist.

“Given the language he had used and his body language, I was preparing for an assault to come my way, whether it would have been a shoulder thrust, or a headbutt or spit,” Truong testified. “I was expecting something to come my way. He was challenging me to a fight.”

Prosecutors suggested Truong thought his body-worn camera was turned off when he struck the handcuffed teenager. The camera was activated, however, and recorded the exchange. When the camera beeped and Truong realized the camera was on, he immediately turned it off, testimony showed.

On cross-examination, he said turning the body-worn camera off — despite both state law and department policy requiring it be on — was “just a normal instinct.”

“It was just a natural reaction, turning off the camera, if you are not the one who turned it on,” he testified.

Prosecutor Tod Duncan dismissed Truong’s testimony that he was afraid the teenager was about to attack him during closing arguments Friday. He emphasized that the teen was both handcuffed and restrained with a seat belt, and that the belt would have locked into place had the teen lunged at the officer.

“When you take all this together, it is just not a threat,” Duncan told jurors.

Truong will be sentenced Dec. 16.