Mexican tourist awarded $200k Police yell wrong Spanish "FART POLICE, FART THE WOOD"

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Salmeron is a Mexican musician, and because he does not speak English, he did not understand the SWAT situation happening outside the home, his attorney said.

Aurora police arrived to serve an arrest warrant for drug charges on a different man, but when they entered the home, they began shouting orders in Spanish.

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DENVER (KDVR) — An Arapahoe County jury awarded a traveling musician $200,000 in a civil rights lawsuit against the Aurora Police Department and found two officers liable for a K9 attack during a SWAT raid in 2023.

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Salmeron’s attorney, Luke McConnell, told FOX31 that the orders in Spanish made no sense and included phrases like, “fart police, fart the wood. We have a police fart, entrance wood.”

Court documents showed Salmeron was staying on a tourist visa, which he said he tried to show the officers during the attack.

Defense attorneys said during the trial that the warrant was high-risk and they did not know what they would encounter inside the home.

The attorneys said officers did what they could to serve a warrant safely and effectively, in a situation that lasted less than 15 seconds.

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“You just ordered the taco plate,” one police officer noted as the commands were given, according to the report.

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