PRESS RELEASE: Darren O'Connor Law Joins Zobel Law to Bring Lawsuit on Behalf of Transgender Woman Unlawfully Arrested by Aurora Police

April 8, 2026

Erin Pruitt has filed a Complaint and Jury Demand against Aurora police department officers for violating her rights under the Colorado Constitution to be free from unlawful seizure and under the Law Enforcement Integrity Act.

The Aurora Police Department investigated multiple individuals alleged to have pimped a young neurodivergent woman. The alleged victim identified one of the perpetrators as a transgender woman who lived at a different apartment, but at the same apartment complex, as Ms. Pruitt. The allegations included very specifically the apartment unit number of the alleged transgender perpetrator, whom she identified by the name Amber.

An Aurora detective and other officers, rather than attempting to arrest the alleged perpetrator at the apartment number the alleged victim provided, did a search of the entire apartment complex and identified Ms. Pruitt as a transgender woman living in another unit. They provided the alleged victim with photos of Ms. Pruitt, and the alleged victim did not confirm that it was the perpetrator. Per Ms. Pruitt’s Complaint:

Facts that would have raised significant concerns for a reasonable officer include that 1) Amber’s legal name is William. Plaintiff’s legal name is Eric; 2) Plaintiff did not live at the address the alleged victim provided; 3) Plaintiff’s only similarities to the alleged victim are that they are both transgender and lived in the same apartment building; 4) a significant age difference of twenty-one (21) years between the true suspect and Plaintiff; 5) the true suspect has a history of military service Plaintiff does not and; 6) confirmation from Plaintiff, the Apartment Manager, and upon information and belief, Amber herself, that Plaintiff is not Amber.

When an Aurora officer showed up with an arrest warrant for Ms. Pruitt, even the apartment manager, of his own volition, informed the officer that there was a transgender woman named Amber in the apartment number the alleged victim had provided, thus independently confirming that the officer had the wrong person. The officer even spoke to Amber, but asked leading, unhelpful questions of her such as “is your name Eric Pruitt?” When Amber responded no to the officer’s questions, the officer returned to Ms. Pruitt’s apartment and carried out the arrest.

This lawsuit seeks to hold Aurora police responsible for taking unlawful and harmful shortcuts in their investigation of a serious crime. These shortcuts led to the unlawful arrest of Ms. Pruitt and left the perpetrator free.

Ms. Pruitt seeks actual damages as well as compensatory and consequential damages in amounts to be determined at a jury trial. Cassandra Zobel and Darren O’Connor of Zobel Law and Darren O’Connor Law look forward to getting justice for Ms. Pruitt, and to inform Aurora police, in no uncertain terms, that simply sharing status as a transgender woman is an insufficient basis to assume an alleged perpetrator matches the description given by an alleged victim, when that description readily provides the police with enough information to locate and arrest the proper person.

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Contact: Darren O’Connor, 720.961.3869, darreno@dolawllcocm