85-year-old man in jail, accused of felony assault for hitting person with his cane

DENVER — An 85-year-old man who admits he smacked someone with his cane was in jail Thursday accused of felony assault with a deadly weapon.

His family says what is even more absurd than the allegation is the way Denver police officers hauled him out of bed in the middle of the night and took him away.

The family says the incident with the cane took place more than two weeks ago and the family thought it was just a minor parking issue.

They said the man would’ve been happy to go in and talk to police if they had only asked him to do that.

The first time family members were aware an investigation was underway was when police showed up in the middle of the night Wednesday, got the elderly man out of bed, arrested him and took him away in handcuffs.

John Copeland leaned on his walker and slowly made his way to the podium in the courtroom Thursday afternoon.

His family says Copeland is nearly deaf and he told the judge he couldn’t hear what the judge was saying.

When the judge told him he was being held on $50,000 bond charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon, Copeland said he didn’t understand anything that was going on.

“Last night at about 12 o’clock AM, they sent about three policemen to the house to arrest my father,” says Larry Copeland.

Police and court officials say the arrest documents aren’t available.

But John Copeland’s family says the arrest is the result of an altercation that happened when the 85-year-old man was parking in a Home Depot parking lot more than two weeks ago.

REST & VIDEO