DENVER — A man who was body-slammed by an off-duty Denver Police Department officer while celebrating the Denver Nuggets championship in 2023 filed a lawsuit Wednesday — exactly one year after the incident.
Elijah Smith was among the thousands of fans who were in downtown Denver on June 12, 2023, after the team's historic win. Smith said he was with a group of people celebrating a friend's birthday and the championship at Hayter's & Co. in the city's Lower Downtown (LoDo) neighborhood.
"They were kicking everyone out because of the shooting that had happened a couple blocks away," said Smith. "From the corner of my eye, I see one of my friends get sucker-punched. My other friend ran to the other guy and started defending our guy that got punched."
Smith said he quickly jumped in to also defend his friend when he felt someone pick him up.
"I just feel my body lifted up in the air and I knew I got picked up and slammed on my head. I could feel everything. The pressure in the back of my head is throbbing. It felt like I was dying," he recalled.
Cell phone video captured the moment Smith was body-slammed by then-Denver Police Officer Adam Glasby.
Glasby had been working an off-duty assignment at Hayter's & Co. on Blake Street when the group of men started fighting outside the bar, according to the Denver District Attorney's Office. To break up the fight, Glasby pulled one of the men from the other and, in doing so, took Smith to the ground, knocking him unconscious, according to court documents.
Court documents state Glasby stayed with Smith and provided first aid, including a sternal rub. When Smith regained consciousness, his friends helped him walk away and took him to a hospital.
"It scared me what happened to me. I didn’t want to go to sleep. I didn’t think I was going to wake up," said Smith.
Glasby was initially charged with second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury, a felony. However, he pleaded guilty to third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, in April. His conviction was a POST decertifying offense, meaning he was stripped of his ability to work in a law enforcement capacity in the state of Colorado.
On Wednesday, exactly a year after the assault, Smith's legal team filed a lawsuit against the City and County of Denver, Glasby and Hayter's & Co.
"If it hadn’t been for a civilian with a cell phone, this probably would’ve never come to light," said Smith's attorney, Mari Newman with Newman|McNulty, LLC. "No matter who he was working for, it was excessive force. The fact that he was in his Denver uniform working as a security guard means Denver is responsible, Hayter’s Bar and Officer Glasby. And that means all three need to be held responsible."
Smith said he suffered a traumatic brain injury and a back injury. In addition to the physical impacts, he said he suffers from PTSD and is afraid to be out in crowds.
"I’ve been in constant physical therapy. I even took speech therapy because I was stuttering a lot," he added.
As difficult as it's been to watch the video of what happened, Smith said he's glad it all came to light.
"I just want to thank the person who, you know, had the recording from the video," he said.
Denver7 reached out to the Denver Police Department. A spokesperson said the department does not comment on pending litigation. Glasby resigned from the department on May 2 and the department will continue its Internal Affairs investigation into this incident, per policy, the spokesperson said.
Denver7 reached out to Hayter's & Co. for a statement but did not hear back as of publication of this article.
