Former Denver Cop Convicted of Beating Girlfriend Charged With Another Vicious Assault

Alex Woods, a former Denver police officer who was not able to continue on the force after a domestic-violence charge, has been charged with assault in the second and third degrees after an incident at the Columbine Bar and Restaurant in Littleton.

Security footage from August 9 at the bar shows Woods punching Orlondo Chavez in the mouth and then repeatedly slamming Chavez’s head into the ground after Chavez approaches Woods in the parking lot. An affidavit from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, which responded to the incident, describes the incident.

“Once Orlondo falls back down on the ground, Alex gets on top of him, grabs his head, and starts slamming his head onto the asphalt around eight times,” the affidavit reads. “Alex stayed on top of Orlondo until he was pulled off by another patron of the bar.”

Woods, 53, was arrested on August 10. Chavez, 45, says he still has physical pain and neurological trauma from the incident.

“I'm trying to comprehend this, and I can't,” Chavez says. “My head cannot comprehend what actually happened to me.”

According to the affidavit, Chavez came to the Columbine because of an incident earlier that day between Woods and a man named Thomas Haas. Chavez, who told police he has been friends with both Haas and Woods, went to the bar to extract Haas from the fight. Then Chavez returned to secure Haas’s belongings, as Chavez had driven Haas away in a rush and left his car unlocked.

However, Chavez told police that when he returned, Woods’s wife began yelling profanities at him. That’s when the altercation between Woods and Chavez allegedly began, lasting until a bystander pulled the two apart.

“Orlondo had multiple bruises, bumps, and marks on his head, forehead, nose and lip,” the affidavit details. “I was informed Orlondo had fainted multiple times since the assault occurred.”

Medical paperwork completed at Swedish Southwest Hospital indicated Chavez’s injuries carry a “substantial risk of protracted loss or impairment of the function" of the neurologic organs, the affidavit notes.

“This guy is a big menace, and everyone needs to know about it,” Chavez says of Woods. “He's not right in the head.”

Woods was the subject of a 1995 Westword story after he was convicted of beating his on-again, off-again girlfriend while working as an officer for the Denver Police Department. He received a year of probation, 36 weeks of domestic-violence counseling and could no longer own a gun, effectively ending his career as a police officer.

Woods petitioned to be reinstated as an officer in a long and publicized case, but the Colorado Court of Appeals eventually determined in 2005 that he could not be reinstated as an officer. (Current Denver District Attorney Beth McCann, who was the city's Manager of Safety in the early 1990s, initially denied Woods's application to the police academy, calling it "a maturity thing.")

Brooklyn Diamond, Chavez’s best friend, has been helping him through the aftermath of the incident. She used to work at Woods’s bar, the No Name Grill in Littleton, and says she has seen Woods behaving violently and erratically over the years.

Diamond says the trauma of Woods’s alleged beating of Chavez is difficult to watch.

“He gets angry. He gets sad. He is emotional. He's all over the place,” she says of Chavez. “He can't think of words. He can't remember anything.”

Chavez is the full-time caregiver for his twenty-year-old daughter, who was born with Recombinant Chromosome 8 Syndrome, sometimes known as San Luis Valley Syndrome. Because of the condition, his daughter does not speak and needs help with mobility, eating and using the bathroom.

Since August 9, Chavez’s mother and friends have helped care for his daughter, but the family is worried about what will happen if he doesn’t regain his neurological abilities. Diamond says Chavez is having trouble remembering what happened in the weeks leading up to the incident and vocabulary he used to know, such as terms related to his job as a financial advisor.

“My head is not right,” Chavez laments. “Sentences don't form the way they used to.”

Westword called the No Name Grill multiple times, but was unable to reach Woods. The bar's Facebook account did not respond to a message asking if Woods could comment on the alleged assault.

Chavez has hired a lawyer and is looking into the possibility of suing for damages in civil court.

“I just want justice to serve him, and I know Orlondo feels the same way,” Diamond says.

The criminal case is set for a preliminary hearing on October 10, but Diamond and Chavez say they have been told it will likely be continued.