A former Windsor mayor has sued two Timnath police officers claiming one of them stood by while the other kneed him in the groin and bashed him on the hood of a patrol car after he accused an officer of bullying.

John Vazquez, who served as Windsor mayor between 2008 and 2016, brought the excessive force civil rights lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Denver against Timnath officers Forest Andersen and Andrew Tope.

Vazquez is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for emotional distress, humiliation and pain and suffering, according to the lawsuit filed by Loveland attorney Sarah Schielke.

Andersen arrested Vazquez after beating him up and charged him in connection with assaulting an officer, the lawsuit said. Vasquez refused plea agreements offered by the district attorney and was acquitted by a jury in May, Schielke said.

A phone message left with the Timnath Police Department was not immediately returned.

Vazquez dined on Oct. 7, 2017, in Fort Collins with his family but decided on the return home to get out of the car and walk. During the walk, he approached Tope’s patrol car parked on the road side and asked for a ride, the lawsuit said.

Instead, Tope followed Vazquez down the road, turned on his overhead red and blue lights on a “dark and deserted road,” and yelled at him to come talk to him. Vazquez complied, the lawsuit said.

Andersen drove to the scene and began interrogating Vazquez, the lawsuit said. Vazquez told him he felt like he was being harassed and Andersen was abusing his authority. He explained that he was the former mayor of Windsor and a close friend of Windsor police Chief Richard Klimek.

“‘Oh yeah? Well, you’re not in Windsor. This is Timnath,'” Andersen replied, according to the lawsuit.

Vazquez expressed annoyance that Andersen denied him a ride home but took time to hassle him. Andersen allegedly pointed at the side of his patrol vehicle and said, “‘It says police, not taxi service, buddy.'”

Andersen grabbed Vazquez’s arm, twisted it behind his back in a “painful wrist lock maneuver and put him in handcuffs,” and told the mayor he was going to jail, the lawsuit said.

Andersen marched him to the hood of his car and slammed his upper body onto the hood of the patrol car multiple times. The officer kneed Vazquez in the groin and pushed his arms straight into the air, causing the mayor to scream in pain, the lawsuit said. Andersen three times pushed Vazquez’s arms straight up in the air as he screamed in pain.

“It was a level of pain that Mr. Vazquez will never forget,” the lawsuit said.

Timnath police do not use body cameras or have cameras mounted in their patrol cars.