‘LACK OF HUMANITY’

‘Callous’ Cop Fired for Ignoring Dying Gunshot Victim’s Pleas for Help

Dewayne Rodgers failed to give 18-year-old Jalonte Jones first aid, even as he lay bleeding on the ground for 10 minutes before his death.

A Denver cop has been fired after he refused to give medical treatment to an 18-year-old gunshot victim who was bleeding on the ground for 10 minutes—and begging for help—before his death, according to a police internal investigation. Dewayne Rodgers claimed he didn’t render first aid to Jalonte Jones after the September 2020 shooting because he didn’t have his tourniquet and was afraid of doing more harm. But according to the investigation, Rodgers walked away from Jones twice and failed to tell 911 dispatchers that he was bleeding out. Jones, who stopped breathing before paramedics arrived at the apartment complex parking lot, said “I’m dying” or “I can’t breathe” multiple times, investigators found.

“At no time did Officer Rodgers crouch down near the victim,” Mary Dulacki, the Denver Department of Public Safety’s chief deputy executive director, wrote in a letter. “At no time did Officer Rodgers touch the victim. At not time did Officer Rodgers offer words of comfort. The callous lack of humanity that Officer Rodgers displayed is best exemplified by his response to the victim saying ‘Oh my God, help me,’ when Officer Rodgers replied, ‘Do you live in this complex?’”