Greenwood Village is 84% white, less than 3% Black and about 5% Hispanic. But on Thursday, the latest edition of Black Lives Matters protests came to this community of just over 15,000, where the median income is more than $127,0000 and the median home price is just shy of $900,000.

Marchers briefly shut down South Quebec Street both north and south of Orchard Road. Police monitored but did not interact with protesters, as of 5 p.m. 

The protest came in response to a Monday resolution from the Greenwood Village City Council that said it would ignore a key provision in the police accountability law recently passed by the Colorado General Assembly and signed by Gov. Jared Polis on June 19.

The provision at issue is whether police officers who act in bad faith or who commit unlawful acts can be held personally liable for judgments, settlements or other court-related costs. The law, which was heavily negotiated in the waning days of the 2020 session, set a limit of $25,000 or 5% of the judgment, whichever is less.

The city council’s resolution implies that no police officer will ever act in bad faith, according to protesters at Thursday’s march.

Just under 100 people, mostly white and young, showed up in the 100-degree heat, only to be met at city hall by barricades and a massive snowplow blocking the entrance, and marking city hall as “closed.”

Denver Public Schools board director Tay Anderson said he had talked to city officials earlier in the day, who said they weren’t happy but that they didn’t want this protest to turn into “another Aurora.” But he said that statement was untrue, pointing to the snowplow and barricades. “They blocked the entrance so that protesters couldn’t get into the city hall area.”

That’s a reference to protests at an Aurora police department station last month where protesters were greeted with police in riot gear and tear gas, despite claims that they were protesting peacefully, including with a violin serenade in honor of Elijah McClain.

On the night of Aug. 24, 2019, McClain was walking home from a store and did not stop when approached by Aurora police. Thinking that he was trying to get an officer’s gun, police brought him to the ground by officers and placed him in a chokehold.

While held down for 15 minutes, he began vomiting and said he could not breathe. Aurora paramedics were called to the scene and injected the 110-pound McClain with ketamine, estimated at a dose appropriate for a 220-pound man. He suffered an apparent heart attack, went into a coma and died on Aug. 30, after he was taken off life support.

Gov. Jared Polis has ordered Attorney General Phil Weiser to conduct an investigation into McClain’s death.

Thursday’s protest in Greenwood Village was organized by students at nearby Cherry Creek High School, which is located in Greenwood Village. “We need to show the city what we think of that decision,” said Ramsey Headrick, a Cherry Creek student and one of the organizers. 

The resolution is illegal, said activist Terrance Roberts, a representative of the group Front-Line Party for Revolutionary Action of Aurora, who also claimed that Black people are not welcome in Greenwood Village. 

Another student from Cherry Creek said Monday’s resolution shows that the system is broken in Greenwood Village, too. The names of McClain and Leo Lech, a homeowner whose home was destroyed by Greenwood Village police, also was mentioned.

Marchers then took to South Quebec Street, marching north and closing down the street to traffic. That’s when Greenwood Village police showed up, but they blocked off the street as marchers crossed the intersection with Orchard Road, headed north. They then came back to the city hall entrance.  

Sara Couch, a lifelong resident of Greenwood Village, told Colorado Politics that police should be held accountable for their actions.

“It’s important we raise the issue with them. They’re not exempt from the rules,” she said. 

There’s definitely an issue with how police interact with minorities versus white people in Greenwood Village, Couch said. At the high school, white students weren’t held accountable for their behavior, but Black students, what few there are, are held accountable.

“I saw firsthand” that police discriminated against Black students, she said. In her class of 1,000, perhaps fewer than 40 were Black.