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Officer Lewis Duenas: Officer Lewis Duenas is central to a high-profile wrongful arrest lawsuit in Bogota. In September 2020, Duenas arrested a local business owner, Carlos Bernal, in a case now described as a “bogus” charge. Bernal, who owns a gym in town, had gotten into a minor verbal argument with a neighbor outside his shop. When Duenas and Sgt. Geoffrey Cole responded, Duenas demanded Bernal’s ID and home address despite neither being directly related to any crime​
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. Bernal provided his name but, feeling harassed, refused to give his address. By all accounts Bernal was cooperative aside from that refusal. This led Officer Duenas to become upset and suddenly place Bernal under arrest​
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. Duenas charged him with disorderly conduct (citing a local ordinance about obscene language, since Bernal allegedly swore during the argument)​
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. Bernal was taken into custody, but when the case went to trial in 2022, the charge fell apart – a judge found Bernal not guilty in May 2022​
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. Just a few months later, in August 2022, Bernal filed a federal lawsuit against Officer Duenas, Sgt. Cole, the Bogota Police Department, and the Borough, alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, unlawful search, malicious prosecution, and related civil rights violations​
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. The complaint points out that Bernal’s only “crime” was refusing to divulge personal information, which is not a lawful basis for arrest​
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. It also notes Duenas lacked probable cause and that Sgt. Cole failed to intervene or supervise properly. In litigation, the borough tried to get the case dismissed, but in February 2023 a U.S. District Judge allowed many of Bernal’s claims to proceed (denying dismissal in part)​
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. This indicates the court found sufficient allegations that Duenas and Cole may have violated Bernal’s Fourth Amendment rights. In community eyes, the incident made Duenas look like he abused his authority – essentially arresting someone for “contempt of cop.” Bernal’s lawsuit is ongoing (he was granted leave to file an amended complaint to strengthen any areas the judge found deficient)​
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. If Bernal prevails or the borough settles, it would underscore that Duenas’s actions in that arrest were improper. In sum, Officer Duenas is accused of a wrongful, retaliatory arrest — an incident that has become a legal headache for Bogota.

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