A police report states that the Code Pink war protester shoved to the ground by a police officer during the Democratic National Convention grabbed the officer’s riot baton first in a scene not part of the now-famous video.

But Alicia Forrest, 24, says that the officer was the aggressor and that she never “pushed and pulled” Officer Scott Stewart’s baton as he claimed in his report. She is one of the 154 people arrested during last week’s convention here, 28 of whom pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning.

Forrest’s case is still being investigated by the Denver Police Department’s internal affairs department and reviewed by independent monitor Richard Rosenthal, who oversees allegations of police misconduct.

The video of the altercation, shot by a Rocky Mountain News photographer, became an instant YouTube hit. Forrest is seen on the video, which does not capture the entire interaction, shouting at the officer, who responds by knocking her to the ground, saying, “Back it up, b—-.”

His police report makes no comment on the knockdown but states he “disengaged” from her while forming an arrest team for crowd control.

Forrest, who is back in Los Angeles, said she plans to take her charge of interference to trial. A court date is scheduled for Sept. 19.

She said the incident occurred while she was taking photographs of the arrest of Carlo Garcia, a leader of Recreate 68, another protest group.

She said the officer kept prodding her with his baton as she backed up while taking photos. She said she then raised her hands and told the officer to stop. She said the officer then pushed hard with the baton. She challenged him to do it again, and he shoved her hard across the chest, knocking her to the ground, the video shows.

Tuesday morning, five other protesters agreed to not contest their charges, accepting the offer of a five-day suspended jail sentence and $140 in fines and court costs. Trials for those who pleaded not guilty were set for the last two weeks of October.

Bricks, sticks and rocks

Sonny Jackson, a spokesman for the Police Department, said Tuesday that during the convention, officers confiscated bricks, sticks and rocks. The seizures might have prevented protests from turning violent, he said, declining to specify where the items had been found.

“We found something of everything,” he said. “Some of the stuff was disgusting, but I’m not going to get into specifics.”

Denver City Attorney David Fine said in a prepared statement that the 154 arrests logged in Denver compared pretty favorably with the 1,800 arrests in New York City during the 2004 Republican National Convention.

“That said, it’s less about the number of arrests than about our success in balancing maximum opportunity for free speech with the necessary safety and security measures demanded by an event of this magnitude,” Fine said. “We feel the city was successful in this regard and credit our combined police team and other safety personnel for ensuring that residents and visitors alike had the opportunity to safely enjoy the convention and the city.”

Another mass arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 2, said Brian Vicente, a lawyer with the People’s Law Project, which is providing free legal representation for the protesters.

Vicente said many of the disputed arrests come from an Aug. 25 roundup by police. Among the nearly 100 people arrested then were a handful of legal observers for the People’s Law Project who weren’t protesting but on hand to document police actions, he said.

Christopher N. Osher: 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com