Colorado Springs police officer arrested for alleged misconduct
The Colorado Springs Police Department arrested one of their own on first-degree official misconduct charges Friday.
On June 5, the department received a report that one of its officers, Levi Braun, was allegedly unlawfully obtaining information about another individual for personal gain.
Upon knowledge of the alleged crimes, the department opened a case investigating the claims against Braun. On Friday, he was arrested, served and released with a summons. In addition to the criminal investigation, police have opened an internal affairs investigation into this incident.
Braun has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the internal and criminal investigations according to a department spokesperson.
According to a press release sent out Friday afternoon, the department says they “take all claims of misconduct by our employees seriously and understand the importance of transparency and accountability with our community and the importance of holding our officers to the highest standards.”
Braun’s arrest follows court updates from earlier in the year of a man suing Colorado Springs police officer, claiming the officer used excessive force against him and then attempted to cover up the incident during the summer of 2022.
Braun was mentioned in the lawsuit, but was not named as a defendant. The plaintiff, Matthew Siron, alleges Braun was among the CSPD officers who responded to his apartment and tried to cover up another officer’s use of force against him.
Siron claims in a lawsuit filed in El Paso County District Court that officer Douglas Wolfe “forcibly” dropped him to the ground while he was restrained in handcuffs, though Siron “did not present an imminent safety threat” to responding officers or other people.
Siron said that the use of force led to the fracturing of several bones and caused one of his lungs to collapse while he experienced a mental health crisis. Wolfe has denied the allegations, stating that Siron resisted detaining efforts and that Siron kicked Wolfe hard enough in the knee to cause bodily injury.
