Denver’s Department of Safety fired a deputy for verbal confrontations with two inmates in the county jail, in which they reportedly used racial slurs at each other and the deputy told the inmates: “If you’re feeling froggy, jump,” according to the disciplinary letter.

Other Denver Sheriff Department deputies said they had concerns about working with Deputy Courtney Brown because of how he interacted with inmates, leading to a harsher penalty than the Department of Safety’s presumptive discipline for the nature of harassing, cruel or humiliating treatment.

Brown, a deputy sheriff in Denver since 2018, was also fired for inconsistencies in his version of events about the incident.

“Commission of a deceptive act” warrants firing according to the sheriff department’s discipline code, unless mitigating circumstances warrant a suspension instead.

Two cellmates accused Brown of calling them derogatory names and insinuating they were having a sexual relationship in an incident in July 2022, according to Brown’s disciplinary order.

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Brown got into a confrontation with one of the same men in August 2022 over trying to get him to lock his cell door for count, according to the discipline order. The man and his cellmate started yelling and swearing at Brown. Brown reported he walked away continued his rounds because he didn’t want to escalate the situation. But other employees reported Brown also swearing and using racial slurs, and saying, “If you’re feeling froggy, jump,” the discipline order says.

Another deputy reported he had to get between Brown and the inmate to prevent the situation from escalating.

In his defense, Brown said at a disciplinary meeting he had watched videos to learn about de-escalation and interacting with inmates. He also said had personal issues with his family at the time, and his actions were out of character for him, not grasping how one of the inmate’s comments raised his emotions.

“That day, I should have stayed home. … When the inmate made that remark, I said something too, and I didn’t realize it until later on, after he made that remark that it elevated my emotions, and I didn’t remember ’til later on ’til I was explaining to (my counsel) exactly what’s going on that I started remembering certain details,” Brown told investigators.

The Denver Gazette reached out to Brown’s attorney for comment.

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The order mentions two other incidents of discipline in Brown’s history, including for abandoning his post and a failure to protect inmates from harming themselves or others.

One of the other deputies made a statement that he wasn’t comfortable working with Brown because of how he had heard Brown talk to inmates in the past. He said he “like(s) Brown as a person,” but doesn’t want to work with him as a deputy.

During the disciplinary meeting, Brown denied using derogatory language or swearing during his interactions with the two inmates, and the disciplinary order says he denied making the comment about “feeling froggy.” Statements from two other deputies also reportedly contradicted Brown’s claims that he walked away from the confrontation and that no one had to get between him and an inmate to intervene.

“Deputy Brown was given multiple opportunities to accept responsibility for his actions, and to correct the record of what had transpired in these two incidents. However, he chose not to do so and instead inaccurately portrayed what had transpired,” says the disciplinary order.

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