Denver Police Detective Leslie Branch-Wise admitted to the public in an interview with Denver7 on Feb. 27 that Mayor Michael Hancock in 2012 had sent her multiple suggestive texts in her time as part of his security detail, making her feel uncomfortable and calling his texts an act of sexual harassment.
“I just want people to know that I’m a woman, I have children and I’m victim of sexual harassment,” Branch-Wise said. “It made me physically sick. It was extremely scary. And I dealt with it at the time the best way that I could.”
The texts in question include Hancock commenting on her haircut. “You make it hard on a brotha to keep it correct every day,” the texts said.
“Enjoy! You better bring them some good luck! You look sexy in black,” Hancock texted after seeing her in the crowd of a nuggets game.
A longer text has Hancock asking Branch-Wise about pole dancing and him following up after not receiving a response with, “Be careful! I’m curious!”
Branch-Wise told Denver7 about the difficulty in coming out with her story. “If you are down here and your boss is up here and he’s showering you with these inappropriate texts and saying and making you feel uncomfortable, who do you tell if he’s at the top? It’s crushing.”
She did feel support/inspiration from the #MeToo movement. “It made me feel really sad for the women. But I felt like they had something that I didn’t: They had courage. In spite of what people would say about them, or whether people would believe them or not, they had courage,” Branch-Wise said. “And I have daughters and if something like this were to happen to them, I would want them to have courage.”
Since the story broke, Hancock has apologized for the messages. “Detective Branch-Wise served with me probably eight or nine months. We became friends, and I blurred the lines between our friendship and being a boss, and these text messages are inappropriate. They’re too familiar, too casual. For that, I accept responsibility, and I apologize,” he said to Denver7.
In the same interview it’s reported that he did not see his behavior as sexual harassment but acknowledges their inappropriate state.
To his family and his public, Hancock hopes to be forgiven for his past actions. “I hope my wife and my children accept my apology. And this city, who I love very much, and the people that I wake up every day to serve and to give everything I have, know that this is not the man, that is not the character of the man who I am. I made a mistake. I’m human. I never purport to be perfect,” he said.
Hancock is not the only person to have sexually harassed Branch-Wise in her time as aide to the mayor. Allegations were made towards another one of the mayor’s aides Wayne McDonald who was fired after she shared that information to Hancock.
McDonald later sued for wrongful termination and settled for $200,000 in 2016; Branch-Wise settled for $75,000 in 2013 where she agreed to not fire claims against anyone else in the city.
Currently, Branch-Wise is an employee of the Denver Police Department but has expressed fear of losing her job after this admission. In response, Hancock has reassured that there is no intent to do so.
