A video of a Denver police officer suspended for using unnecessary force shows him shoving a handcuffed shoplifting suspect face-first into a wall and then grabbing his hair and slamming him to the ground.

Denver Manager of Safety Alex Martinez issued a four-day suspension to Officer Rick Guzman, and ordered a written reprimand for failing to file a report about the incident.

The Police Protective Association has appealed Martinez’ order to the Civil Service Commission. The amount of force Guzman used was within department guidelines, said David Bruno, a lawyer for the union.

Guzman was arresting a shoplifting suspect held by security at the Kmart at 363 S. Broadway when the incident occurred Aug. 4, 2007, according to Martinez’s order of disciplinary action.

On May 27, 2011, “an anonymous complainant” provided police with a video of the arrest.

“The video of the arrest was reviewed, and it illustrates that Officer Guzman used an unnecessary amount of force while arresting the suspect. Additionally, Officer Guzman did not file a report of the incident,” according to the order.

The black and white video, provided by police today, shows what appears to be Kmart security guards escorting a suspect, who carries a plastic shopping bag, into a small room. One of the guards takes the bag and removes an object from it, then handcuffs the suspect.

Guzman arrives and puts a second pair of cuffs on the man’s wrists, then removes the security guard’s cuffs.

Guzman stands behind the man, who is facing the wall. It isn’t clear if the suspect says something, but suddenly, Guzman pushes him into the wall, grabs him by the neck and thrusts his own face toward the suspect’s. Guzman appears to be saying something to him.

He then grabs the man by his hair, throws him to the ground and gets on top of him.

The incident was so long ago that Guzman, who joined the department in 2005, can’t remember it, and the video doesn’t show what caused him to react the way he did, Bruno said.

The Internal Affairs unit interviewed witnesses, said a police spokesman.

The incident happened before 2008, when a new more stringent discipline program went into effect. When deciding what the punishment should be, Martinez took the new rules into account, said his spokeswoman Daelene Mix.

“It was not a direct application of the matrix but it was guided by the principles of the matrix, which in part, is a codification of prior disciplinary standards,” she said in an email.

Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com

This story has been corrected in this online archive. Originally the first name of the officer who was suspended was wrong.