Denver pays $130,000 to couple who claim they faced police retaliation for advocating for homeless people

Denver must pay an activist and her husband $130,000 because Denver police allegedly harassed the couple because of their work on behalf of the homeless.

The city council approved both demands on Monday.

The first case, which cost the city $100,000, dates back to 2021. Activist Regan Benson and her husband Brenton Benson stopped on the side of the road to film an interaction between police and homeless people.

According to Andy McNulty, the Bensons’ attorney at the civil rights law firm Newman McNulty LLC, police then conducted a traffic stop and charged Brenton Benson with blocking the roadway, which the Bensons denied. Police later suspended Brenton Benson’s driver’s license as a result of the complaint.

“This driver’s license suspension procedure is actually only intended for people who are obviously unable to drive, according to DPD policy,” McNulty said. “But the officer in this case did it out of revenge.”

Police later stopped Brenton Benson for driving without a license.

The officer involved, John Schaal, was suspended after police leadership determined he had retaliated against Brenton Benson.

“The agency believes that a wealth of evidence supports Mr. Benson’s belief that Officer Schaal’s traffic stop and citation were in retaliation for the Bensons’ videotaping and were not based on evidence of a crime,” Commander Hans Levens wrote in a report seen by Denverite.

The internal investigation into the incident revealed that Brenton Benson had pulled sufficiently far to the side of the road.

“The Denver Police Department respectfully wishes to refrain from commenting on the settlement,” a police spokesperson wrote in an email to Denverite on Monday. “An internal investigation was completed and Officer John Schaal received a sustained complaint, which resulted in a 10-day fine.”

The second case, settled for $30,000, involves Regan Benson’s exclusion from attending public Citizens Advisory Council meetings attended by police officers and community members, after a back-and-forth with police officials.

After being deprived of access to public meetings, Regan Benson filed a lawsuit to allow her to return to the meetings and to ensure greater transparency surrounding the meetings.

“I see a pattern here,” McNulty said of the thousands of dollars Denver has paid out in recent years related to allegations of police misconduct and retaliation. “In general, there is no accountability for people who violate the rights of others, and that only leads to those rights continuing to be violated by police officers in Denver.”