What we saw during 8 hours with Denver police on 16th Street mall

Monique Cummings stood outside the Ross Dress for Less on the th Street mall telling two bicycle officers about a confrontation she d just watched between a shopper and an off-duty Denver police officer who was providing defense at the clothing store The off-duty officer had pinned the Black woman to the ground Cummings recounted the cops She thought he was going to kill her so she tried to shove him off A man with a python hanging around his neck a female snake named Cleo stood a limited feet away with cellphone video to show the two bicycle officers In the background a woman in a white tank top wore an adult diaper over red boxer shorts She stood in front of a phone mounted at shoulder height on a monopod waving her arms and loudly livestreaming from the sidewalk The mall was busy packed with professionals families with kids construction workers Passersby gave the woman in the diaper a wide berth At the Ross shoppers ducked past the two bicycle cops the store safety guard and the small crowd of clamoring onlookers at the store s front doors with barely a second glance This was th Street on a sunny Monday afternoon The -block pedestrian corridor has become a lightning rod in the debate about Denver s downtown whether it is safe whether it is pleasant whether it is worth visiting The area has experienced high business vacancy rates in fresh years and has been under renovation for four years work that city agents expect to wrap this year The corridor has been criticized for inhabitants drug use homelessness and at times violence an attacker killed two people and wounded two others in a spree of unprovoked stabbings along the mall in January Executives charged a -year-old man with a long history of mental illness with the attacks which shook citizens confidence in downtown safety In April weeks before rebranding the mall as just th Street Mayor Mike Johnston broadcasted a new police focus on the street a -member unit of bicycle and horse-mounted officers patrolling the area between th and th streets from Union Station to Broadway To learn more about the who police are encountering in this high-profile corridor The Denver Post spent eight hours over two days in May following two members of that detail as they made arrests and issued citations along th Street for obstruction an open container of alcohol for possessing fentanyl paraphernalia and for trespassing The Post then uncovered the stories of those people discovering a U S Army veteran who lost his way a woman who spent a decade living on the streets a man with a history of alcohol-fueled crime and another with an arrest record dating back years The woman in the adult diaper was TikToker AmberUnavailable an account with almost followers The Post exposed She travels from city to city making videos and staying in Airbnb rentals In modern posts she put produce down her pants in grocery stores while bystanders ogled Cummings who shoved the off-duty officer at the Ross was visiting Denver from Georgia and was only in town for a inadequate hours she revealed She was arrested for interfering with police When officers put her in handcuffs she caught a reporter s eye It s all right she stated calmly Because if I wouldn t have shoved him he would have killed her This was not Cummings s first time going to jail Denver police officer Siena Riley second from left and officer James Cambria center talk to Monique Cummings right after an episode inside a Ross Dress for Less store on the th Street mall in Denver on May Cummings' daughter Tiandra Burns is at left Photo by Helen H Richardson The Denver Post Not ashamed of what I ve been through Cummings mother was murdered at the age of strangled to death on an August night in her body dumped in a wooded area in Jacksonville Florida Cummings was She remembers how her mom left to go to a family get-together how she longed the kids to come too but the siblings decided to stay home Cummings now still wonders sometimes what would be different if she d gone that night and whether her mother would have lived It haunts me to this day she stated Her mother s death sent Cummings into the foster care system and she grew up rough she announced describing herself as from the hood She lives with bipolar disorder with schizophrenic tendencies It runs in the family She s been in trouble with the law routinely over the past two decades court records show She pleaded no contest to a robbery in Fort Lauderdale and was sentenced to two years in prison She wrote a letter to the judge overseeing the event in asking that she be published early to help her daughter out of homelessness For one full day I contemplated every bad decision in my life she wrote from prison And came to the same conclusion in every scenario I doomed my life for the things I could control Wow These decisions have cost me dearly Cummings planned to seek mental healthcare cure she wrote in the letter After she got out she was arrested in for using a stolen driver s license to get a job representing herself at work as the woman on the stolen license A judge ordered that she undergo mental medical remedy and Cummings was identified to be too mentally ill for the scenario to go forward The charge was dismissed in Cummings went on to plead no contest to a shoplifting charge in which she was accused of stealing in children s books from a Florida Hobby Lobby in court records show She described the arresting officers she was depressed and felt like she should be in jail The next year she was arrested for running a stop sign and for possessing a small amount of bath salts court records show That scenario is pending in Florida For years she s been ready for a confrontation at the drop of a hat Cummings disclosed But just now she was out shopping with her grandchild and realized she was scaring the child It was a turning point she commented She sought out more healing anxiety medication and hypnotherapy It has tremendously helped she mentioned She and her daughter came to Colorado for her daughter s court appearance on theft charges in Larimer County They stopped by th Street after that to buy a carry-on suitcase at the Ross Dress for Less before their flight home that afternoon Cummings explained She watched the confrontation between the other shopper and the guard officer and felt the shopper was being racially profiled Cummings declared When the officer pinned the woman to the ground Cummings thought she was doing the right thing by trying to shove him off Looking back on her arrest after returning home Cummings felt it was a step forward for her She revealed more restraint than she would have in years past she stated That situation made me know that I m being healed she mentioned Before I would have tackled that man and we would really have been going But for me to just slightly push him try not to harm him just to make him aware of what he is doing I know I did change Back then I d have picked up a gun a bottle or anything She was issued from jail on a personal recognizance bond after a couple of hours at the Denver Downtown Detention Center She missed her planned flight home but caught one later that night she reported I m not ashamed of what I ve been through she declared It is what it is That s what God gave me I dealt with it I overcame it I m here Denver police officers John Singapuri left and Siena Riley right patrol along th Street in Denver on May Photo by Helen H Richardson The Denver Post Five months of bike patrols Officers John Singapuri and Siena Riley zipped through th Street on heavy camouflage-green electric bicycles They announced hello to business owners out on their patios paused at stoplights and every inadequate minutes stated passing bicyclists that they can t ride on the mall The street is closed to bicyclists though they are ubiquitous Singapuri and Riley give warnings for bike riding not tickets They ve patrolled downtown on bikes since January focused on building relationships with downtown regulars business owners shopkeepers nonprofits but also proactively policing what Singapuri calls quality of life crimes They look for inhabitants urination drug use trespassing alcohol consumption the stuff that literally impacts someone s day Bicycle riding on the mall not so much When they started this road five months earlier before the fatal stabbing spree there was more open drug use along the street Singapuri noted But as they ve been consistently issuing citations the drug use has shifted away from population view For the the bulk part it s way down he explained It really is We still see a lot of the same people we were citing but they re not doing all the same stuff Stated crime in the Union Station and Central Business District neighborhoods that cover the mall for the days before June is up about when compared to the same six-month span last year but is down about when compared to that period in and down from crime content maintained by the Denver Police Department shows The department recorded crimes in the two neighborhoods over the last six months compared to in that time frame last year and in that span in Violent crime manifested a similar pattern For the -day span before June the two neighborhoods recorded violent crimes compared to in that time frame in and in This year s numbers are down about from that six-month span in when police recorded violent crimes Denver bicycle police officers Siena Riley left and John Singapuri right talk to a man who was sleeping near the th Street mall while on patrol in Denver on May Photo by Helen H Richardson The Denver Post Riley and Singapuri don t interact with unhoused people who are not committing crimes unless they re unconscious Then the officers will call out with a Hey are you OK or a Denver police do you need anything They ll shake a person s leg or tap a shoulder They move on when the person comes around The officers direct unhoused people to the Denver Outreach Court when they issue citations It s a subset of Denver County Court that meets at the Denver Society Library s downtown branch and focuses on defendants who are unhoused with the court process aimed at helping them get back on their feet rather than punitive outcomes like probation or fines We re still trying to help them and that is the goal but unfortunately you have to get them in a position where they really have to do it Singapuri commented On bikes they can spot what officers in cars might miss riding up to an area hurriedly and quietly Anthony Caproni saw the officers a beat too late as he drank a -ounce can of Natty Daddy at the corner of th and Curtis streets at about p m on a Monday The officers spotted the drink and watched as he tried to tuck it out of sight They turned their bikes around I know you saw me Caproni noted as they approached You caught me red-handed He set the beer down and gave his information to Riley and Singapuri who suggested the Denver Outreach Court Caproni stated he d rather just pay a fine He rattled off his phone number sweaty and slurring a bit then realized it was wrong He couldn t quite get the right number out He offered to pour the beer into a flowerpot Singapuri directed him to a trash can across the street This is gonna hurt Caproni announced heading to the trash can Denver police officers Siena Riley left and John Singapuri right question Anthony Caproni center whom they stopped for having an open container of alcohol wile walking down th Street in Denver on May Photo by Helen H Richardson The Denver Post Caproni could not be reached for comment after his citation but he has a history of alcohol-fueled crimes The Post determined In he was charged with sex crimes after he molested a woman then grabbed her head and feigned oral sex at a condo in Keystone He was so drunk at the time that officers took him to the hospital before they took him to jail And in he drove a minivan to his former boss s Denver home and ran over a trash can and feet of fencing He appeared drunk the boss informed police He d fired Caproni three years earlier but Caproni still thought the boss owed him according to a police record Caproni pleaded guilty to felony sex assault and was sentenced to three years in prison in the situation court records show In the situation he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal mischief and received probation On the th Street Mall Caproni dismissed officers concerns that he might not cooperate with them Over a beer on a nice sunny afternoon he reported That s insane Denver police officers John Singapuri left and Siena Riley center question John Shipman at Skyline Park in downtown Denver on May Photo by Helen H Richardson The Denver Post From the U S Army to th Street Fourteen years ago John Shipman was deployed with the U S Army to Afghanistan He was a year into what would become a -year career joining the Army as an infantryman in deploying for months in and departing the amenity in as a sergeant first class He was a top marksman in his class his sister Kelly Shipman revealed He bought a house was in a committed relationship had dogs horses a brand new truck He had a beautiful life she explained Shipman long struggled with substance abuse and his mental physical condition He started smoking weed and taking pills as a teenager and used substances to cope with anxiety and depression after their mother died from cancer in Kelly Shipman noted He enlisted in the Army to straighten himself out and he excelled for a while she mentioned He is goofy a good cook and a fan of the ocean and bodyboarding Anywhere he could fish he did his sister declared He got into the Army and that saved his life Kelly Shipman commented But it also brought challenges the stress and trauma of a deployment overseas and a parachute accident during a training exercise that broke his back he and his sister mentioned They gave him pain pills in the hospital which is his kryptonite she mentioned He started using harder drugs she explained and his stable life unraveled his relationship ended his Army career ended He moved in with an aunt for a while after the Army tried working in the private sector but a year ago she kicked him out of their Castle Rock home with a command not to come back until he was clean He s been homeless since Shipman explained just before a m on a cloudy Tuesday as Singapuri and Riley wrote him a ticket for possession of drug paraphernalia They d rolled up on him and two other men sitting among the sunken sculptures in Skyline Park tucked just off th Street Singapuri saw Shipman shove aluminum foil and a blue straw in his pocket as the officers rode their bikes down a set of stairs to reach the group The other men walked away the officers hadn t seen them do anything illegal but Shipman was cited Denver bicycle police officer John Singapuri shows contraband taken away from John Shipman while on patrol around th Street in Denver on May Photo by Helen H Richardson The Denver Post He was using fentanyl powder he mentioned He thanked the officers for giving him a ticket instead of a ride to jail It s kind of embarrassing to be honest Shipman revealed of his situation He has almost no criminal record in Colorado court records show just a previous citation for possessing drug paraphernalia along the Platte River trail in January His family is desperate to help him They lost touch with him and didn t know he was homeless Kelly Shipman declared her brother sometimes struggles to take accountability for his own actions and fails to recognize when he requirements to seek help You can lead a horse to water you can t make them drink it Kelly Shipman declared It just breaks my heart It just crumples me to think that he is on the streets It s just devastating He s suffering It s not like he wants this life He is in so much pain Struggles with substance abuse and mental fitness are common in their family Kelly Shipman explained She herself just finished detoxing from alcohol and has been sober for two months We care about John and love him Kelly Shipman reported And we want to be there We would help him in a heartbeat If he yearned to get help we would help him Denver police officer John Singapuri right questions two people in an alley off of th Street in downtown Denver on May Photo by Helen H Richardson The Denver Post Trespassing by a dumpster An hour or so after citing Shipman Riley and Singapuri cruised up the th Street mall on their e-bikes They swerved down an alley cornering a man and woman crouched behind a dumpster near th and Welton streets not far from a No Trespassing sign The alleys abutting th Street are closed to pedestrians an effort to cut down on unhoused people hanging out in them The -year-old man behind the dumpster came out quietly and sat against the wall of a Target store Court records show he s been charged with crimes seven times since Of the charges he faced across those seven cases all but four were dismissed He s pleaded guilty three times to possessing a controlled substance and once to attempted robbery court records show He could not be reached for comment after his trespassing citation The -year-old woman with him emerged from behind the dumpster upset telling officers she was just changing her shirt and loudly protesting when they advised her she d be cited for trespassing She also protested when a Denver Post photographer took her photo calling it a violation of her privacy Related Articles th Street Mall stabbing suspect s path marked by mental illness homelessness drug use Downtown Denver at a crossroads as offices sit empty buildings go into default and safety concerns persist th Street safety is the key to downtown Denver s rebound Denver will increase police presence downtown including a mounted horse patrol to boost safety Denver will spend million trying to attract people to th Street Mall this summer She gave a name and a birthdate and Riley looked her up The officer studied the photo attached to the name She was not sure the woman in front of her matched the photo though it was close What s your real name Riley petitioned the woman Are you kidding me she shouted apparently outraged She then repeated the same name adding a maiden name as well Riley wrote the ticket under the name the woman gave The Post later discovered the woman gave her sister s name She has long struggled with drug addiction and spent years unhoused revealed Jeff Connell her former brother-in-law For decades she s cycled through rehab months-long bursts of sobriety and relapses he reported He and her sister adopted the woman s child as a baby he stated She and her sister declined to speak with The Post for this story When reached by a reporter Connell echoed a sentiment that Shipman s sister had expressed they ve been waiting for an unexpected phone call from a stranger about their loved one We ve known for multiple multiple years presumably years that we are going to get a phone call any day that it s gone too far and it s over Connell disclosed Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day