Another case of alleged excessive force by Denver police officers has surfaced in the wake of a similar complaint that has received national attention.

Mark Ashford, 32, was beaten by two officers and transported from the scene by ambulance after having stopped to talk to a motorist pulled over by one of the officers, said Will Hart, Ashford’s attorney.

The March 16 incident is under review by Richard Rosenthal, an independent monitor for the city of Denver who investigates allegations of police wrongdoing.

Ashford was walking two small dogs in downtown Denver, near the intersection of 20th and Little Raven streets, Hart said, when he saw a police officer pull over a driver for going through a stop sign.

Ashford knocked on the car window and offered to testify that the driver had stopped at the traffic sign.

The officer “didn’t like that at all,” said Hart, who said he is advising his client not to give interviews about the incident.

The officer asked Ashford for identification, which he provided. The officer then walked back toward his patrol car.

At about that point, another officer arrived. Ashford, now nervous, began taking photographs with a cellphone camera, Hart said.

Both officers, identified by Hart as John Diaz and Jeff Cook, approached Ashford and grabbed him, pushing him backward into a bridge railing and wrestling him to the ground. The officers attempted to punch and twist the camera out of Ashford’s hand. Ashford was shoved into the pavement by the officers and handcuffed.

“They just basically manhandled him,” Hart said.

Hart said Ashford was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony Central Hospital and treated for a cut on his right eye and a concussion.

He was arrested on suspicion of “interference and resistance,” but charges were eventually dropped, Hart said.

The mayor’s office is aware of the incident, said Eric Brown, a spokesman for Mayor John Hickenlooper.

“Because the police investigation and review by the independent monitor are pending, it’s premature to comment on what may or may not happen,” Brown said.

Ashford has had previous brushes with the law, including guilty pleas of giving false information to a police officer and obstruction of a police officer, in two separate El Paso County cases, according to electronic court records. The cases stemmed from arrests in 1997 and 1998.

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com

This story has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporter’s error, the wrong name was given for Ashford’s attorney.