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22-year-old tries to disarm officer during traffic stop

Ryan Summerlin
rsummerlin@postindependent.com

A 22-year-old went for a Glenwood officer’s gun in an incident April 8, after he was stopped and found to be driving with a suspended license.

After stopping him and discovering he didn’t have a valid license, the officer asked him to step out of the car and started trying to handcuff the young man.

“I then told him I was going to place him in handcuffs until I could verify the information he gave me and the vehicle information,” the officer wrote in an affidavit. But when he tried to cuff the young man, the 22-year-old spun around and grabbed the grip of the officer’s Glock 22 in his belt holster.



The officer pinned the young man’s hand against the pistol grip to prevent him from pulling it out of the holster. In a struggle, the two went to the ground, the 22-year-old still holding on to the officer’s pistol in the holster, and the officer punched him in the face and eventually got his hand off the gun.

While the officer yelled at him to stop resisting, the young man tried to stand up, coming to his knees. “I then struck [him] on the left side of his back with a closed fist, multiple times, while yelling at him to stop resisting and to put his hands behind his back,” the officer reported.



The young man continued trying to rise to his feet, “saying that he’s not doing anything wrong and to ‘stop beating me,’” according to an affidavit.

The officer was eventually able to get him in cuffs and backup arrived. The officers found the vehicle’s license plate was registered to another vehicle, and the young man said he took it off a Honda Civic because he couldn’t afford to get the vehicle registered.

The 22-year-old was arrested on charges including second-degree assault on a police officer and attempted disarming a police officer, both felonies, and misdemeanor resisting arrest.

Girlfriend’s mom calls in DRUNK boyfriend

Rifle police on March 28 responded to a protection order violation and trespassing incident on Howard Avenue.

A woman called police saying that her daughter’s boyfriend was at her daughter’s apartment intoxicated, in violation of a protection order.

She said he appeared “highly intoxicated,” as she could smell alcohol, and he was falling down the stairs. The 27-year-old man had a protection order barring him from consuming alcohol, and the girlfriend was the protected party.

The daughter had told her mother that the 27-year-old was “trashed,” and the mother asked the man to leave. He did, but he soon returned and kept trying to get into the apartment.

Officers found the man at the scene. His speech was slurred and they found a shooter vodka bottle in his pocket.

About a half-block away, the 27-year-old had also walked into a stranger’s apartment. First, he went to the bathroom. Then the man who lived there was able to get him to leave without incident.

He was arrested on charges of first-degree criminal trespass, a felony, along with violation of bond conditions and violation of a protection order, both misdemeanors. Domestic violence was listed as a sentence enhancer.

Carbondale police seek serial eggers

Shortly after midnight Tuesday, Carbondale police found numerous vehicles egged in the Hendrick Ranch neighborhood, making the third such incident in three weeks.

“What people don’t seem to realize is that eggs can be very difficult on paint and building materials and might cause permanent, expensive damage if not cleaned immediately,” Chief Gene Schilling wrote in a press release.

Call 970-963-2662 if you have information on the identity of the wanted eggers.

man beaten with baseball bat

Garfield County deputies responded to Valley View Hospital on Wednesday to meet a man receiving treatment who said he had been beaten with a baseball bat.

The man said he was at a 36-year-old man’s residence in Canyon Creek working on a motor. While the victim was in the garage, and with no warning, the 36-year-old came into the garage and started swinging at him with an aluminum bat.

The first swing was aimed right at the man’s head, he told deputies.

He blocked the blows with his arms and legs. As the 36-year-old continually beat him with the bat, hitting him about 20 times, he was yelling about the man having slept with his wife.

Deputies observed several wounds on his arms and legs. The affidavit includes no statements about whether he did or did not sleep with the other man’s wife.

The 36-year-old later showed up at Valley View and was arrested on a Rifle warrant for failure to appear. Asked about the reported assault, he said, “No, nothing happened so there is nothing to talk about.”

He was arrested on charges of second-degree assault and menacing, both felonies.

Angry man breaks county door

A man on the morning of April 7 damaged the front door of the Garfield County administrative building at 108 Eighth St.

Witnesses reported that the man angrily pushed open the door, yelled something, then intentionally pushed it far enough to bend and damage it.

The door’s hinges were bent and possibly electronics in the door were broken, according to building maintenance.

Police spotted the man, a 44-year-old with a California license, later on the 1300 block of Grand Avenue. He told them he had been angry because he was looking for the Social Security office and realized he was in the wrong building. He denied breaking the door but was nevertheless arrested on a felony charge of criminal mischief.


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