An assistant Denver city attorney has resigned and a Denver police officer has been disciplined after the cop admitted "fixing" a speeding ticket for the prosecutor's boyfriend.

The Denver City Attorney's Office says Dani Eliscu resigned March 17 after being confronted about the ticket fixing.

"That is not OK, not acceptable and unethical to do anything like that," said Vince DiCroce, director of prosecution for the Denver City Attorney's Office.

The incident began Feb. 18, when traffic officer James Gates issued a speeding ticket at West Sixth Avenue and Kalamath Street to Jeremy Rosenthal, Eliscu's boyfriend.

According to the sworn statement from Gates, Rosenthal "told me his wife worked for the City Attorney's Office and she was a prosecutor. He asked if that changed anything." The statement and other information were obtained by CBS4 under a Colorado Open Records Act request.

Gates said he told Rosenthal that if Rosenthal's wife was indeed a city prosecutor, she would know where to find the officer. He then issued the speeding ticket.

Later that morning, according to Gates' statement, he received a call from Eliscu saying the officer had ticketed her husband and "she asked if I could help her out."

"I then did as I would have done for any prosecutor and destroyed the ticket due to the relationship and the close working we do with the prosecution. I would have done this for any one of them. She told me not to tell anyone because she would get in trouble if anyone found out."

"It is completely unacceptable," said DiCroce. "No prosecutor should be treated differently because of their position as a prosecutor. It is not standard operating procedure. The attorneys here are very ethical and there are clear ethical boundaries. This was wrong and inappropriate."

The ticket fixing, and the suggestion that this happens regularly, were troubling to Elena Nunez, of Colorado Common Cause, a government watchdog group.

"Everyone should be treated equally under the law," said Nunez. "To give one set of people special treatment means we are not treated equally under the law. It just raises the question of how the law is applied."

Gates was issued a written reprimand last month for engaging in "conduct prejudicial" and "conduct unbecoming an officer."

Eliscu resigned after she was confronted about the ticket fixing, according to DiCroce.

It was not the first time she was accused of using her power to avoid prosecution.

She was reprimanded last year after she tried to use her position to get out of tickets for having her dogs running loose in a park.

Eliscu did not respond to requests for comment. Her attorney, Phil Cherner, said "Ms. Eliscu did nothing wrong in any shape or fashion." Cherner declined to answer any questions.

Rosenthal, a Denver attorney, wrote a cease and desist letter to CBS4 last Friday, threatening legal action after learning the story would be made public.

"This story is false and publishing any part of it would irreparably injure the reputation of Ms. Eliscu or me . . ."

He did not specify what parts of the officer's account were allegedly false.

His letter went on to say, "Ms. Eliscu has damaging information about the city and city personnel and this is an attempt to damage Ms. Eliscu's credibility. It is also an attempt to retaliate against Ms. Eliscu for disclosures that she has already made."

Contact Brian Maass at bmaass@cbs.com