On Friday, a Denver police officer was arrested after his own bodycam captured him on video stealing cash from a suspect.
Officer Julian Archuleta had been called to the scene of a shooting on October 7. He was supposed to take pictures of a car that the suspect had crashed while fleeing from police. But he was captured on video rifling through the suspect’s clothes, which had been removed by paramedics.
According to the arrest report, Archuleta removed a wad of cash, which had a $100 bill on top, from the clothing, and the whole thing was captured on camera.
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Archuleta’s actions were discovered when another officer became suspicious when he did not find any $100 bills when logging evidence. He had noticed the cash during a preliminary investigation, so the absence of the bills raised red flags.
The other officer then noticed that Archuleta’s report of the crime scene did not include a reference to the $100 bills, and so he demanded to see Archuleta’s bodycam footage.
Archuleta was called into internal affairs and ordered to check his “war bag,” and he later claimed to have found the money, which he said “must have fallen in his bag.”
In addition to being arrested for thieving, Archuleta’s actions rendered the complaint against the shooting suspect warrantless, and the suspect has been freed.