A former Englewood police officer was arrested on suspicion of assault after he pulled a man over for running a stop sign and, after struggling to communicate in Spanish, proceeded to shock the man with a Taser, put him in a chokehold and drag him to the ground, investigators said Tuesday.
Ryan Scott Vasina, 30, faces charges of second-degree assault, third-degree assault and first-degree official misconduct, according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. The second-degree assault charge is a felony, while the other two charges are misdemeanors.
He turned himself in at the Denver Sheriff Department on Monday and was released on a $25,000 bail, according to the district attorney’s office.
“This type of conduct is a stain on the profession and is not reflective of the Englewood Police Department or the people who serve our community with honor,” Police Chief David Jackson said during a news conference on Tuesday morning at the district attorney’s office in Centennial.
Vasina, at the time a probationary officer, pulled over 20-year-old Carlos Rangel-Rincones, a Venezuelan national, shortly after 11 p.m. Oct. 8 near South Lincoln Street and East Layton Avenue, according to an arrest affidavit.
Investigators said Rangel-Rincones was seen running a stop sign on dash-camera video.
Rangel-Rincones primarily speaks Spanish and knows minimal English, so he had trouble understanding Vasina during the traffic stop, he told investigators through an interpreter. Vasina never requested an interpreter to respond to the scene, District Attorney Amy Padden said during the news conference.
In the expletive-laden encounter, Vasina repeatedly asked Rangel-Rincones for his license and keys and refused to answer the man’s questions, according to the arrest affidavit. He told Rangel-Rincones to turn off the car, and the man complied, but then asked for the keys, which Rangel-Rincones did not turn over.
Instead, Vasina repeatedly tried to pull Rangel-Rincones out of the car while cursing and insulting him as Rangel-Rincones pulled back and tried to access a translation app on his phone.
Vasina again ordered him to get out of the car and used his radio to tell emergency dispatchers Rangel-Rincones was fighting him, but his body-worn camera footage showed that wasn’t the case.
Instead, the recording showed Vasina telling Rangel-Rincones he was going to shock him and then deploying the Taser one second later, investigators wrote.
Rangel-Rincones then got out of the car, and Vasina told him to get on the ground, but immediately put him in a chokehold and dragged him down.
Rangel-Rincones told investigators that he was trying to send his location to his mother-in-law because he thought he was going to be killed.
Vasina choked him for about 12 seconds and put his weight on the man’s back, further injuring him because he still had Taser barbs in his body, investigators said.
Rangel-Rincones could not breathe during those 12 seconds and was later photographed with bruises on his neck, Padden said. He never fought, resisted or failed to follow lawful orders before Vasina used force, she said.
Investigators also wrote in the affidavit that Rangel-Rincones did nothing to warrant Vasina’s use of force and did not resist even as he was being choked.
The type of chokehold Vasina used in the traffic stop is illegal in Colorado, and all chokeholds are prohibited under the Englewood Police Department’s use-of-force policy unless deadly force is authorized.
Englewood police started investigating the encounter after Rangel-Rincones came to the department on Oct. 9 to file a complaint, Jackson said Tuesday.
Jackson learned about the encounter five days later when an unidentified person from outside the police department emailed him late Oct. 13, he said. Englewood police first reviewed Vasina’s body-worn camera video on Oct. 14 and immediately referred the case to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Vasina was put on administrative leave that day.
Vasina was still a probationary officer and was terminated after his probationary status was revoked, Jackson said. He was hired at the Englewood Police Department in November 2024 and previously worked at the Colorado State Patrol from June 2021 through October 2024.
Vasina did not have a disciplinary record in Englewood and an initial review of his other body-worn camera video did not show similar incidents, Jackson said.
State Patrol officials referred questions about Vasina’s employment, including his disciplinary record and past use of force, to the agency’s records department, which did not immediately respond to a public records request on Tuesday.
Vasina’s state police certification through the Peace Officer Standards and Training board was still active as of Tuesday afternoon and did not show his arrest. His next court date was not available Tuesday.
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