On the night of Halloween 2020, 36-year-old John Pacheaco Jr. was killed in a confrontation with police in Denver, Colorado. He was found unresponsive behind the wheel of a stolen Dodge pickup truck that was stopped in a lane of traffic on northbound Colorado Boulevard near Alameda Avenue. Glendale police officers initially responded to conduct a 'wellness check' after 10 p.m.
As officers arrived, they positioned their vehicles to block the pickup.
When they tried to wake Pacheaco, the truck lurched forward and then backward, striking a police vehicle. In response, two Glendale police officers, identified as Neal McCormick and Chandler Phillips, fired multiple shots into the truck, fatally wounding Pacheaco. He was unarmed at the time of the shooting. An autopsy later revealed methamphetamine in his system. His mother, Jamie Fowler, described the shooting as being 'like a firing squad.'
The Denver District Attorney's Office investigated the shooting and ultimately declined to file criminal charges against Officers McCormick and Phillips. The DA's office concluded that the officers reasonably believed they or their fellow officers were in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death. Attorneys for Pacheaco's family disputed this, stating that video evidence showed the officers were not in danger when they fired their weapons.
Following the district attorney's decision, John Pacheaco Jr.'s family filed a civil lawsuit against the two officers. The lawsuit was one of the first to be filed under a new Colorado police accountability law that removed qualified immunity as a defense for officers. In August 2022, before the case could go to trial, the family reached a confidential settlement with the officers for an undisclosed amount.
