David Sachs

A program that puts troubled nonviolent people in the hands of health care workers instead of Denver police officers has proven successful in its first six months, according to a progress report. Denverite’s David Sachs reports.

On Saturday, Oct. 10, a shouting match near the Denver Central Library ended with a burst of pepper spray and a fatal gunshot in broad daylight. The victim: Lee Keltner. The shooter: Matthew Dolloff. Keltner and Dolloff would likely be unknown to one another — and the rest of the country — had it not been for the collision of political forces in downtown Denver that day. But now they are at the heart of a conflict among groups whose names differ depending on whom you ask: patriots and communists, fascists and Antifa, left and right.

Over the last decade, policing and jailing people in Denver has accounted for almost a third of the city’s budget. But hefty spending and more cops on the street haven’t necessarily resulted in a safer city.

Chaos ensued Thursday following a peaceful protest at the Colorado Capitol over the in-custody death Monday of George Floyd, an African American man who died at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis.