AURORA, Colo. – A detention officer has been placed on indefinite, unpaid suspension and faces a felony assault charge in connection to an October 6, 2025 incident inside Aurora’s Detention Center involving a detainee.
According to the City of Aurora, 41-year-old Christopher Freitas, a detention officer, is accused of excessive force and faces a second degree assault charge in which a detainee later required surgery following the “altercation.”
The incident, which was captured on detention center surveillance video, began after 28-year-old Austin Young, the detainee, punched another officer. The video showed that officer attempted to guide Young from a chair when the detainee punched the officer in the head or neck area. Officers were seen quickly swarming Young before pulling him to the ground.
Aurora shared a video from a cell which showed Freitas standing on Young’s left arm.
“During that response in a nearby cell, surveillance and body camera video show Freitas first pinning and pulling Young's right arm around the cell door, then standing on his left arm,” said the City of Aurora in a news release.
Young’s injuries included a fractured arm and he was hospitalized where surgery was performed to “restore blood flow to his right arm.”
Aurora said staff inside the detention center immediately reported what happened and requested an investigation.
The Aurora Police Department will conduct that investigation and then present its report to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Detainee Young also faces the same charge of assault in the second degree for punching the other detention officer, which started the sequence of events.
Aurora said Freitas, a detention officer who works for the city’s Court Administration Department and is not a sworn police officer, has worked at the facility since October 2023.
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