The case of a former Aurora police officer accused choking and striking a man with his gun he was trying to take into custody is now in the hands of an Arapahoe County jury.

John Haubert resigned from the force after he was charged. He had spent three years with the Aurora Police Department when he was arrested.

The alleged assault of Kyle Vinson, who is Black, happened on July 23, 2021. 

In his closing statement, Assistant District Attorney Tom Byrnes said that this was “a three minute beating that never should have happened.”

Byrnes added that Haubert was “impatient and frustrated” the day he struck Vinson more than 12 times with his handgun. As the former officer’s bodycam footage rolled, Vinson’s head started to bleed, as Haubert struck him multiple times.

“He (Haubert) was actually going through the consideration of shooting Mr. Vinson, who was lying on the ground,” said Byrnes.

According to testimony and body-worn camera audio, Haubert told colleagues he was going to shoot Vinson, but said that he didn’t know if he had the rounds to do it.

But Haubert’s attorney, Kristen Frost, countered that Vinson actually started the confrontation.

“Haubert’s actions were justified by the law and he’s innocent,” she said.

During the trial, the jury heard from police trainers and from officers who described their training. 

During her closing statement, Frost slowed down the video to show the jury the struggle for Haubert’s handgun.

“The only conclusion that you can come to is that Kyle Vinson grabbed for Mr. Haubert’s gun,” said Frost, who reminded the jury that Vinson had a warrant for domestic violence strangulation, that he had fentanyl pills in his backpack and that he failed to submit to Haubert’s commands.

“Even Vinson had to admit he resisted. He was non-compliant,” she said. “He was no victim.” 

Haubert pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted first-degree assault, second-degree assault, oppression, felony menacing and first-degree official misconduct.

What happened that day

Just after 2 p.m. that day, Haubert and another officer stopped Vinson and two other men in the 3100 block of South Parker Road, while responding to a trespassing complaint at the parking lot of a shopping center.

The encounter started out as routine, with Haubert telling the men to take a seat on a curb in the shade and letting Vinson finishing smoking his cigarette, according to body camera video.

The other two men ran away. 

In body-worn camera video, the officers’ ordered Vinson to get on his stomach, and he did not resist. 

The footage showed Vinson asking Haubert, “What did I do, man?” as he tries to avoid being handcuffed. As a scuffle ensued, Haubert began hitting Vinson with his gun as Vinson exclaimed: “You’re killing me!”

Vinson testified that he thought he might die after mistakenly believing that Haubert had accused him of having a gun, when Haubert actually said he had one pointed at the back of the man’s head.

Vinson looked down as body camera video of the arrest was played in court while he was on the witness stand, sitting just a few feet from Haubert.

Vinson is currently serving a prison sentence in another case.

Haubert’s trial follows the convictions last year of a police officer and two paramedics from the city’s fire department in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who was put in a neck hold by police before being injected with the sedative ketamine by paramedics.

Vinson was taken to a hospital for the welts, as well as a cut on his head that required six stitches, police said.

Another former officer, Francine Martinez, was found guilty of failing to intervene to stop Haubert, a misdemeanor crime created by state lawmakers as part of a police reform law passed shortly after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020. She was sentenced to six months of house arrest. 

At the time, the police department’s then-chief Vanessa Wilson — who had vowed to try to restore trust — announced Haubert’s arrest four days later, calling the handling of Vinson’s arrest a “very despicable act.”

The jury will begin deliberating Thursday morning. 

The Associated Press contributed to this article.