Keith "KILL THEM ALL" Wrede Police Brutality Lawsuit Costs Colorado Springs $175K
Michael Roberts February 1, 2022
A portrait of Colorado Springs Police Officer Keith Wrede. Colorado Springs Police Department
The City of Colorado Springs has agreed to pay $175,000 and institute policy changes to settle a lawsuit filed by Celia Palmer against Colorado Springs Police Officer Keith Wrede, who was accused of roughing her up without provocation during a 2020 racial-justice protest.
According to attorney Andrew McNulty of Denver-based Killmer, Lane & Newman LLP, who represents Palmer as well as Michael Acker, an injured protester paid $500,000 last week by the City of Denver to settle a separate complaint, the deal "brings some semblance of justice to Ms. Palmer, who was brutalized for no reason."
Wrede, one of three defendants in the lawsuit, along with fellow Colorado Springs Police Officer Wesley Woodworth and the City of Colorado Springs, had already made headlines in 2020 after posting "KILL THEM ALL" regarding Black Lives Matters protesters under a pseudonym. That this action only earned Wrede a one-week suspension was infuriating to McNulty. As he told us last year after filing Palmer's suit, Wrede "was acting out exactly what he was saying on social media about Black Lives Matter protesters. He wrote 'KILL THEM ALL' about folks peacefully demonstrating to hold police officers accountable for the violence they've perpetrated on communities of color, and then he acted on those exact thoughts in regard to my client."
https://www.westword.com/news/colorado-springs-police-brutality-settlement-keith-kill-them-all-wrede-1