Ousted Taser cop takes aim at city

August 9, 2007
Joel Stonington, Aspen Times

Former police officer Melinda Calvano has hit the city of Aspen with a lawsuit, claiming that it wrongfully fired her after she used a stun gun on a homeless woman in a downtown alley. In June 2006, Calvano confronted Carol Alexy - a then 63-year-old homeless woman - whom Calvano suspected of stealing a sweater from The Thrift Store's drop box. Calvano used a stun gun to zap Alexy, who was later treated at Aspen Valley Hospital and released.

Judge Jim Carrigan wrote that while departmental policies "strongly urge officers to de-escalate the level of physical threats," Calvano "escalated the situation from an informative conversation, to an unprovable petty theft case, to asserted charges of resisting arrest, obstruction of an officer, and assault of an officer. None of these charges were ever filed, leaving the police department in the embarrassing position of having fired a Taser and inflicted pain on an old, homeless woman who had committed no provable offense."