It turns out Pinkerton’s license was not revoked as a result of the 2020 shooting death of a protestor armed with pepper spray by a subcontractor hired to guard a 9News employee at a Denver rally.
Pinkerton prevailed throughout the administrative and legal battles with the City of Denver and has once again applied to operate within the city.
Only this time, Pinkerton applied for armed security guard licenses so employees can carry guns, Tasers, batons, and peppery spray.
The security guard who shot Lee Keltner was not licensed to carry a gun in Denver.
Westword reports on the administrative and legal battles over the past two years, which only recently culminated with Denver District Court Judge David H. Goldberg ruling against the city’s efforts to permanently revoke Pinkerton’s security license.
According to Westword, it all came down to the use of pronouns.
The judge granted the appeal on narrow grounds, specifically siding with Pinkerton based on the company’s argument that a section of a Denver ordinance that talks about license suspension or revocation does not apply to the company because the law states that “any act or omission committed by any employee, agent, or independent contractor that occurs in the course of his or her employment, agency, or contract with the licensee shall be imputed to the licensee or permittee for purposes of imposing any suspension, revocation or other sanction on the licensee or permittee.”
If the section had simply stated “his,” it would have implied that the category included corporations, Goldberg determined. However, since the law instead uses “his or her,” it applies only to natural persons and was not applicable to Pinkerton, he ruled, without addressing any of the other arguments before him.
How about that? The proper use of pronouns really does matter.
Will the city keep fighting based on the inequity of gendered language to interpret the law?
Or was the victim in the 2020 shooting death a conservative who deployed pepper spray at the 9News guard?
You be the judge of which will take priority in Denver.