State House Republicans Monday issued a statement of support for the House Sergeants-at-Arms and Colorado State Patrol officers who responded to a disruption in the House gallery last week and chided Democrats for rushing to defend the protesters who caused the disturbance. 

All 19 members — an unusual sign of unity in a caucus that often splits on strategy and tactics — signed the letter, addressed to Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, and House Majority Leader Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge.

The disruption took place last Wednesday, when a group of high school students began shouting from the House gallery while the chamber was debating bills on the floor. 

Rep. David Ortiz, D-Centennial, told the students to respect the decorum of the House, advice they appeared to ignore as they began to shout again a few minutes later. Ortiz gaveled the House into a recess while the State Patrol, in consultation with the sergeants-at-arms, decided to remove three young people from the House gallery — one for causing the disruption and the other two for interfering with the State Patrol.

In the letter, the House GOP said the sergeants-at-arms were doing what their job requires them to do per state law, first “respectfully” asking the protesters to leave and then calling on the State Patrol to remove them.

“None of the protestors were treated for injuries or claimed they needed medical attention. Furthermore, none were charged or arrested for violations of interfering with the legislative process or resisting law enforcement,” the letter said.

“To our surprise, many of our colleagues across the aisle not only consoled and encouraged the protestors, some have privately called for our Sergeants to lose their jobs for doing what they are trained to do in such circumstances. You, the Speaker of the House, along with the Majority Leader, gave public statements to the media admonishing the actions of our Sergeants and State Patrol, and the Majority Leader implied their actions were driven by racism,” the letter added. 

The letter continued: “We find these statements and actions by colleagues and House leadership inaccurate and unacceptable. Footage from the officers’ body cameras showed appropriate attention was given to the removed individual’s safety and well-being. Our Sergeants and State Patrol are trained to exercise restraint and use the lowest level of force required in such situations.”

While Coloradans have the right to access the legislature and their representatives, they “do not have the constitutional or legal right to interfere with the work done by duly elected legislators on behalf of their constituents,” the letter concluded. 

A video posted on Twitter showed the last two minutes of the confrontation, one in which the person filming it claimed the students were “assaulted by multiple officers.”

Another video, shot from a different part of the gallery, pointed out that an “elderly” sergeant continued to talk to the students after the first outburst and that the students continued to shout after being asked to stop.

The State Patrol on Thursday posted body-cam videos of the entire encounter. 

McCluskie said in a statement Wednesday she is concerned with the response to the protest in the House gallery and called for an investigation into the response. She pledged the House would take the necessary steps to prevent the incident from happening again, including review of the responsibilities, protocols and training for the sergeants-at-arms. 

Duran said she was very disappointed by how the students were treated, “specifically that a young Latino student was dragged out of the chamber with a level of force that felt unnecessary and disproportionate compared to the treatment of his peers.”

Duran added, “I have a lot of questions about how and why this happened — and I intend to address those concerns with the state patrol as we work to repair the harm perpetuated to this student and his peers.”