During our recent conversations, local activist Rob Keating conceded that, on October 5, 2019, his blood alcohol level indicated that he was intoxicated according to Colorado law, and that Archuleta County Deputy Shane Bracken had acted within his proper authority in making the arrest.
Mr. Keating’s concern, at this point, is focused on a different question. When a County Sheriff offers to buy a steak dinner to any patrol officer who can arrest Rob Keating, does the act of placing a bounty on a certain person’s arrest amount to violation of civil rights under US Code 18 242?
Might such a bounty unfairly alter the way patrol officers treat that certain person?
It seems District Attorney Christian Champagne, with the Sixth Judicial District, agrees that it would be difficult to obtain a conviction in the Keating case. He told the Pagosa Springs SUN that it’s not improper for law enforcement to be “on the lookout for people in the community who represent a high risk to community safety.”
“When they know that people are committing crimes, it is okay for them to focus on those people,” Champagne told the SUN. “That’s what we want, but again, generally not any type of reward or incentive that goes along with that, other than that’s your job.”
He explained that Crime Stoppers rewards leading to the arrest and conviction of a specific defendant for specific crime are “generally are not offered or attainable to law enforcement officers.”
He added, “If it is incentivizing the arrest of a specific person, then that is problematic.”
Apparently, problematic enough that the Keating case was dropped, even though compelling evidence of a DUI seemed
available.
When I spoke this week with the arresting officer in the Keating case — former Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) deputy Shane Bracken — I got the impression that the steak dinner ‘bounty’ was ethically problematic for him, as well. Mr. Bracken has since left the ACSO, but on October 5, 2019 he had only recently finished his schooling at the Law Enforcement Training Academy and was doing field training with Sergeant Mike Sindelar.
“I think Keating was the second DUI I’d ever gotten…
“I used to tell people, whenever I pulled them over… I’m not here to write you tickets; I’m here to change your driving habits. You know, I’m a truly honest person. And everybody deserves a break… Just right from the gitgo, I always took my job seriously and my oath to the Office, and the Constitution of the United States and the State of Colorado, and keeping people safe. I took it seriously…
“I was about to write [Keating] a ticket for failure to maintain a single lane. I even had the ticket written… and then he brings up the 1033 program and ‘the Sheriff hates me’ and I said, I don’t know anything about that stuff. And he’s speaking directly at me, and I started smelling the alcohol…”
A breath test and a later blood test confirmed that Mr. Keating had been drinking. But during the traffic stop on October 5, then-Deputy Bracken had not heard anything about a steak dinner ‘bounty’ offer for Mr. Keating’s arrest.
But he did hear about it soon after.
“Yeah, for getting him on a DUI. Because so many people had tried, and they all failed. Didn’t have enough PC, and stuff like that.”
“PC” meaning “Probably Cause”.
“From the first time my Sergeant told me [about the steak dinner], I said, Really? I don’t need that shit. I’m just doing my job.”
Mr. Bracken had the impression that some of his fellow officers had found the idea of a steak dinner attractive.
“You know, it’s kind of an ethical or moral thing. Like, is that what you do to your political rivals? And, was it because of that? Who knows. Nobody is ever going to admit that, let’s face it. You can ask these people straight to their face and they’re going to lie, straight to your face, even though they’re cops and they’re supposed to be honest…”
Somewhat to my surprise, our conversation lasted about 40 minutes and touched on a number of other situations that had caused Mr. Bracken to feel increasingly uncomfortable about working at the Sheriff’s Office, including the Prescott case and the Manzanares case.
In reference to another Sheriff’s deputy who no longer works for the ACSO, Mr. Bracken offered this observation.
“No one wants to be a cop forever. And shoot, who wants to be a cop these days?
“Especially when the Supreme Court interprets things like they did… what, last week, or the week before?”
I didn’t know which ruling Mr. Bracken was referring to.
“The ruling that — basically, if you’re arrested, and the DA ends up dropping the case for any reason, you can then take a federal civil case against the fricking department that arrested you.
“It’s really kind of stunning, because they just criminalized policing. You better be careful who you arrest.”
I hadn’t heard about this U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which took place earlier this month, on April 4. Here’s a New York Times article about the ruling, concerning the arrest, in New York, of a citizen named Larry Thompson.
The ruling was a bit more nuanced than what Mr. Bracken may have indicated. A citizen who experiences an arrest, that they believe violates their civil rights, has long been able to file a civil suit against the officials involved. In this particular Supreme Court case, Larry Thompson claimed the arresting officers had violated the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable seizures.
As I understand it, a lower court had dismissed this civil case expressly because the prosecutors had dropped the case, ruling that Mr. Thompson could not sue unless he’s actually been found ‘not guilty’ at trial. The Supreme Court ruling specifies that a citizen can sue even when the DA merely drops the case. A ‘not guilty’ verdict is not required.
Obviously, this ruling could have some bearing on Rob Keating’s situation… as well as on the Prescott case, and on the Manzanares case.