Denver’s deputy chief fired for policy violations during mental health crisis

By Shelly Bradbury
The Denver Post

DENVER — A Denver Fire Department deputy chief was fired last month after he took an AR-15 rifle to a public park and loaded the weapon during a mental health crisis in March, according to a disciplinary letter obtained by The Denver Post on received on Wednesday.

The city of Denver fired former deputy police chief James Hart on Sept. 3, six months after he drove around the metro area with a loaded AR-15 rifle and a bottle of whiskey while contemplating suicide, records show . Hart could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The March 28 incident began after Hart’s wife confronted him about an apparent extramarital affair. According to the disciplinary letter, Hart left work visibly upset, emotional and agitated.

As he was leaving Fire Station 15 on Colorado Boulevard, he encountered a junior firefighter in the parking lot. When that firefighter asked what he could do to help, Hart told him to take his gun and gave the man a pistol he had kept behind the driver’s seat of his truck.

Hart then drove to his home in west Denver, where he grabbed an AR-15 from the garage, got back in his truck and drove off. His brother – a captain with the Denver Fire Department – tried to stop Hart and gave chase, but Hart sped away, records show.

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The brother alerted police because he feared Hart would take actions to harm himself or others, according to disciplinary records. Hart then drove to Wheat Ridge and stopped at Anderson Park, near West 44th Avenue and Garrison Street. The park was full of families and children playing.

Hart parked there, got out of the truck and retrieved his AR-15 from the carrying case. He got into the back seat of his vehicle and loaded the gun, the letter said. But he decided not to “act there” because there were so many children and families nearby and instead drove away, according to disciplinary records.

He then drove to Jefferson County and Golden, according to records. According to disciplinary records, he was speeding and drinking alcohol.

“Assistant Chief Hart’s decision to drink, drive and then load his AR-15 in an occupied public park demonstrates a serious lack of integrity, ethics and character inherent in his position,” Mary Dulacki wrote , Denver’s deputy security director, in a disciplinary letter.

She determined that his actions with the AR-15 rifle endangered the public.

“…If, God forbid, his actions had been noticed, they could have predictably led to panic,” she wrote.

Hart eventually drove near Golden Gate Canyon State Park, where he parked and fired one shot into a hill with the AR-15 before leaving the gun in his truck and accepting his brother’s help. He then underwent psychiatric treatment and has remained sober since then, according to records.

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Dulacki found that Hart did not take adequate responsibility for his actions in the disciplinary hearing – he denied speeding and claimed he was only drinking alcohol in his car when he was pulled over, not while driving, the letter said. Dulacki found he also violated department policy by having a gun in his truck on city property at Fire Station 15.

He claimed it was a one-time mistake, but Dulacki found his claim “unconvincing.”

Denver Fire Chief Desmond Fulton recommended that Hart be demoted from assistant chief to firefighter 1st class and fired, but that the termination should be stayed as long as Hart committed no further disciplinary violations. He pointed to Hart’s 32 years of service and his previous exemplary disciplinary record.

Dulacki overruled that recommendation and fired Hart.

“Assistant Chief Hart will not be punished because he is suffering an emotional crisis; Rather, he is being punished for his willful decisions that amount to a violation of policy,” she wrote

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