I
have waited patiently for several months to tell this story. First, I waited because I did not want the courts
to violate my son’s rights as a citizen of the United States any more than they
already had by my telling of this story. This is a long story that could have
had a much more catastrophic ending had my son not been involved in theater and
known relaxation techniques. Yes, you will learn more about that as the
story unfolds. I will be submitting a shorter version to any news media that
will publish this. I am also reaching out to all other media forums hoping this
story will spread. Even if we don't recover any of the damages it is an
injustice that must stop. These small towns do not have the right to stomp on
the constitution like Montezuma County has. I am angry, very angry as any
mother would be.
We had
planned a civil suit against Montezuma County in Cortez Colorado, but since my son did not die when they violated his right to necessary
medicine, we have no damages. However, there are financial damages and
constitutional violations. There’s an abundance of those actually, so my hope is that someone out there hears
this story and helps us pursue the case against the county for multiple
constitutional violations. This entire case has set the country back fifty years. It is something you just do not think will
happen in our free country of the United States in today’s day and age, but here in Montezuma County it does. Here
in Montezuma County they do not have to abide by the constitution I guess. They
can do what they want and get away with it. They almost actually got away with
what I would have called murder.
It is also very hard to teach your children that the justice system is fair and
works when things like this happen. I will state that I have many friends and
relatives in law enforcement and I completely trust them. Actually some of them
have even told me what Montezuma County has done was wrong.
My son has had a hard
time with trusting the police after this incident. He knows that the ones he
knows personally are good but the rest, well, aren’t so much. As for
trusting the justice system, we have both determined that something has to
change and we do not trust the system in Montezuma County or the Montezuma
County Jail.
I always told my kids that the only way they will get into trouble with the law
while obeying the law themselves is to be in the company of people who disobey
the law. After you read this story you will see that thought is completely out
the window. You can be completely innocent and still “raped” by the judicial
system.
This could happen to you. It could happen to your child-so please pay close attention to some of the events and be aware
of your rights as a citizen of the United States of America. My son did not
know his rights at the time. He thought he had to do what a police officer said
no matter what. He trusted the officer and had no clue things would unfold as
they did.
On the afternoon of January 13, 2016 my son Kyle had gone to rehearsal because
he was in the school play. He was there from 4-6 PM. Then he came home, we ate
dinner and played Chinese checkers. Around 10:00 PM he told me he was going to
get gas. He also likes to drive around and listen to music which is normal. He
took the long way to get gas and turned right on to County Road G from Oak
Street. This was a few days after the big snowstorm we had here in Cortez. The
shoulder of the road was still snow packed at the time.
The following are the statements Kyle and I made after I picked him up from
jail while it was all fresh in our minds.
Wed January 13, 2016
Kyle’s Statement:
My mom and I ate dinner, and then we
played Chinese checkers until around 9:30. I told my mom I was going to go fill
up my car. That was around 10 I think. I decided to go for a drive and drove
down Oak Street to G and then was going to go to the highway, to Handymart and
home. However, not long after I turned off on road G my tires started sliding
and I lost control. I went into the bar ditch. I was not speeding so I just
kind of drove off into the ditch. I could not get my brakes to work and could not
get my steering wheel to turn. It all happened so fast that I just do not know
exactly what happened other than it felt like I hit ice and lost control.
I called my mom and told her I was in the
ditch stuck in 3 feet of snow. My mom said she would call the insurance
company to call for a tow truck. She called me later telling me she had called
them and was on her way to pick me up until they called to say they were on the
way.
A state patrol officer arrived, when I
saw his lights I was somewhat glad because I thought maybe he could help. He
told me to get into his car where it was warm. When I stepped out of my car the
officer asked if I had been drinking or using drugs, he said he did not smell
anything and he did not think I was under the influence but he had to ask. I
told him no, I had not been drinking and had not used drugs.
I got into the officers car, and we
sat there while he ran my license and insurance. It was about 5 to 10 minutes.
Long enough for him to run them. Then my mom arrived and he got out of the car
to go talk to her.
Before the officer got back in the car, I
took a puff of my Pro- air inhaler. When he got back in the car he said he
smelled alcohol and asked if I would be willing to take a breath test. I said
ok but it will not read right because my inhaler has alcohol and they throw off
the breathalyzers. I also told him that the inhaler smells of alcohol. I took
the test and blew .084 He asked me if I had anything to drink at all during the
day and made it sound like I would not be arrested if I said yes so I lied and
told him I had something earlier in the day. He asked how much and I told him a drink
about 5 hours before. I hadn't had anything to drink though but just wanted to
go home.
Then he told me to get out of the car and
take roadside sobriety tests. He never gave me a choice, he told me to do them.
It was very cold outside, the temperature in his car read -3 at one point. It
was around 10:45 when I started the test. I did several of them then he had me
get back into the car. Then he had me get out again to perform more. It was as
if he was making me take more and more so I could fail one. I was scared to
death, I have anxiety attacks and was having a panic attack, plus I was shaking
like crazy due to the cold. Then he put me back in the car and said to sit down
for a bit. The he pulled me out of the car and told me based on the test he was
going to arrest me for DUI. He cuffed me and put me back into the car without
reading me my rights. He never read me my rights.
He asked me what medicines I take and I
told him that I am on several, I named them and one is Zanax but I told him I
don’t take them anymore.
He went over to talk to my mom and then she
came over to the car. My mom stopped and talked to me and I asked her to come
to the jail to get me. She said she would. She said something to the officer
about the inhaler and he handed it to her, she sprayed it near his face and
told him it smells like alcohol. I asked for a puff of it and he let me have
two. That was the last time I was able to use my inhaler. This was around 11:30
PM
We sat and waited for the tow truck for a
while and he told me I needed to take a chemical test and if I refused then he
said “you will lose your license and we will take your car.” I told him I
demanded an attorney. I told him I wanted a lawyer and was not going to do or
say anything else until I saw a lawyer. He told me that I cannot have a lawyer.
As I was sitting in the car I thought of my responsibilities, school, my play
and so I agreed to a test because I knew I would pass it. I asked for the blood
test because of what the first breath test blew and I knew it was wrong so I
did not want to take another one that would be wrong.
The officer told me the breath test is
immediate but blood would take a while, but the officer made it sound like I
could go home and not be booked if I agreed to the test and blew zero at the
jail. I was concerned that the breath tests would be wrong again and just
wanted to go home. The officer told me I could go home as soon as I blew zero
at the jail. I figured the blood test would only take a day or two. I did say
repeatedly that I wanted a lawyer. (I don’t know any of this and needed one to
protect my rights as a citizen of the United States) we left the scene around
12:00 and went to the hospital for the blood test. While there the nurse drew
the blood and put a label on it, it was not flipped over or mixed at all. That
took just a little bit of time, then we went to the police station around 12:30
AM January 14, 2016, and sat there maybe 5 or 10 minutes and then they took a
picture of me, patted me down, and took a breath test. I blew zero. I kept
asking when I could go all this time and still demanding a lawyer.
When I blew zero the officer said that
was weird, he said, “It shouldn’t have left your system that fast.” He filled
out the report, told me he charged me with open container and careless driving.
He had told me earlier that he most likely would not give me a ticket for going
into the ditch. The new charges were as if he was just trying to add things to
this weak case. He gave me a copy and left.
Many times when I asked for a lawyer he
would tell me that it doesn’t’ work that way. This was after he cuffed me and DID NOT read me my
rights.
The jailer processed me and I asked
several times if I could make a phone call, I had given up on the attorney at
this point. The jailer said I could not make a phone call. Then I asked for my
inhaler a couple of times and he told me he couldn’t give it to me because the
proper labeling and prescription was not with it (the box it came in and
prescription) who carries that stuff around? The inhaler does have ingredients
and labeling on the medicine cartridge itself. The jailer said he would ask the Sgt though. Then he put me in a cell for
an hour. At one point, I knocked on the door and asked when I could make a
phone call and if I could have my inhaler. He said the Sgt said no but he would
ask again. He pulled me out to fingerprint me and I asked for my inhaler again.
I told him I could not breathe. He said he was sorry but he couldn’t give it to
me. I told him I wanted to go to the hospital then and he said I’d have to have
$1000.00 to pay, I told him I have insurance and he said it does not cover if
you are incarcerated. He also said he would ask the Sgt because they will only
take me if they think I need to go.
He put me back in the cell. I asked for a
phone call again and he said no. I waited there for 3 hours. .During this time
I would knock on the door asking for my inhaler but was never allowed to have
it. For a part of that time I seriously thought I might die because I could not
breathe. I have never been denied my medicine when I have asthma attacks. I was
scared to death and panicking because I am also claustrophobic. I finally lay
down on the mat they give you to lay on the cold hard floor and lay very still
telling myself to relax. I used the relaxation techniques my
theater teacher taught me which I believe saved my life.I still struggled
to breathe but it helped some. I was in the jail cell where they denied me my
life saving medicine from 12:30 AM to 5:30 AM. I still never got my phone call
or my lawyer.
I was released Thursday at 5:30 AM
January 14, 2016. My mom had to get a bail bondsman to bail me out. I was
starting to wonder if I was every going to get out because they would not
let me use the phone to call.
Since this arrest I have learned a lot
about my rights and the officer never told me if I had agreed to a breath test
and it blew zero when we got there I would not have been charged, he did not
tell me that I would be charged no matter what if I take the blood test because
it is not immediate. I knew I was not drunk and figured if their machine worked
right, I would go home. This was why I wanted and demanded a lawyer many times
before AND AFTER I was arrested. I wanted someone there to protect my rights
and my life.
Kim’s (mom) Side
Kyle and I ate dinner and played Chinese
checkers, 3 games. Then around 10, he said he was going to get gas. It was not
even 15 minutes until he called and told me he had hit ice and run off into a
ditch. So I told him I would call the insurance and get the tow arranged, and
then I would come get him. I wanted to get all of that rolling. Once I got it
arranged I called to tell him I was on my way.
When I got to Kyle and his car, I saw the
police lights and was glad there was an officer there. Then I would not have to
worry about things. The tow company had just called to say they were on their
way too.
The officer walked up to my car and I
asked where Kyle was. He told me in his car keeping warm. We looked at the car
and talked about how stuck it was. Then I said something to the effect that
Kyle could come wait with me. He told me that he needed to wait around to see
if there were any damages to Kyle’s car. I asked him if Kyle was going to get a
ticket and he told me that depended on if the car had damages or not. I told
him it is all beat up and old and he said he would see if there were any new
damages. He said if there are then he will call it an accident and had to issue
a ticket. He told me to get back into my car.
I watched his car and all the sudden he
had Kyle out doing roadside sobriety tests. I was surprised because he was not
drunk and had not been drinking at the house. My first thought was his inhaler
and how I tell him he smells like booze even when we are in the car and I know
he has just used it. It smells like alcohol for a while after he uses it. I
also was wondering how in the heck he could pass a test in that freezing
weather and add to that his anxiety. As for the weather, I was shaking
violently while I was talking to the officer.
The tow truck came and I talked to them.
Then I saw them cuff Kyle and the officer came over to me and told me Kyle blew
.082 and he was taking him in for DUI because of that and he failed some of the
tests. I made a comment about how I could not pass them in the cold. I went
with him to the car to get Kyle’s things and talked to Kyle. While we were at
the back of the car I saw Kyle’s inhaler and squirted it in the officer’s face
to show him how it smells like booze, he did not comment. Then I went to talk
to Kyle and he asked me to get him at the jail. I said I would. Then he asked
for a puff of the inhaler and also said the cuffs were too tight and asked if
they could be loosened. I went back to my car because I was shaking violently
from the cold again and never saw if they loosened his cuffs.
The officer and tow driver told me they
would have to impound Kyle’s car. I told them that I work out of town and asked
if they could just bring it to my house. They decided to bring it to my house.
I never saw the officer look in the car.
The tow driver needed me to move because
two of them had to get Kyle’s car out because of how it was stuck. It was on an
incline and they did not want to tip it over. So I moved behind the cop cars.
(Another officer had shown up at some point) The
arresting officer came to my car around 12 and told me he was going to take
Kyle to get a blood test. He said he finally convinced Kyle that was what he
needed to do or something like that. I asked how long it would take and he said
it would all take about 40 minutes and then I could pick him up at the jail.
He got back into his car and I never saw
him get out again. He left about 10 min later.
I waited for the tow truck to get the car
out. The other officer said he needed to stick around to see if the car was
damaged. So once it was on the tow truck I went home and they brought it home.
I looked it over in the dark and could see no new scratches. The tow driver
said there were some but with all the mud I do not know how they could tell. (I
looked the next day and there are no new scratches on the car.)
Once the car was at the house I went to
the jail. This was around 12:40 AM Jan 14. The jailer did not even know who
Kyle was and told me once they get him there it may take an hour or more to
book him because if he gets busy he has to do something else. So, I went home
and called in 40 minutes. Kyle was there but they said they hadn’t booked him
yet. He was in a holding cell waiting to be processed. I asked if he could have
Kyle call me when that was done and he told me that he can’t tell Kyle to call
me but if Kyle asks to make a call he can call me. So I waited for 40 more
minutes and they said it would be around 30 minutes so I said I would just come
there then.
I arrived at the jail around 3 AM and the
jailer said it would be $1,000.00 bail. I about fainted. He gave me a list of
bail bondsmen numbers. I called them until I reached one. The bail bondsman
said he had to be blowing zero before they would release him so I needed to find
out if he was. When I asked, the man who answered the intercom said he
blew zero when he got there. So I asked why he was even booked and he said that
is not his call. I went to get money and the bondsman had the paper work
started. He finally got there at 4 AM and this all took until around 5:30.
They handed me Kyle’s inhaler and gave
him his driver’s license. The officer did not take Kyle’s license.
We had to pay $150.00 for bail and $40.00
court fees.
On Friday the 15th of January Kyle went to a pre-trial
hearing and was sentenced to random drug and alcohol tests as a part of the
pre-trial process. This is all before he has been convicted of anything. It was even before he went to court to
plead innocent. This is a complete violation of his constitutional rights.
Kyle said the jail was horrible, they
have mats on the cold floor, they have a toilet that does not work and it is
cold and awful. It was a very terrifying experience for him. He also had to be
searched completely before putting on the jail clothes.
On January 16 Saturday Kyle had to go in
to drug test. It was humiliating and horrible. He had to undress completely.
This is all for someone who has not yet been proven guilty of a crime. This is
a complete violation of rights. The drug and alcohol tests are usually a part
of a sentence once you are found guilty. This is saying he is guilty and has to
prove his innocence, which is a complete violation of his rights as a citizen
of the United States.
The careless driving is bogus because he hit
ice. The officer said there was no ice but I drove the road the night of Jan 15
to see and I saw a small area that could be black ice late at night. It was a
wet area during the day. If you were to hit it just right it could send you out
of control. I took a picture for proof. Also, the snow was way over the
shoulder and Kyle tends to drive close to the shoulder to be safe on the narrow
roads. He might have hit an icy patch there and was sent into the ditch. His car
was not damaged at all. The police report even stated that there were no new
damages to his car.
The open container is bogus because Kyle came
home and saw no alcohol container in his car. It was full of root beer bottles,
soda cans and those raspberry lemonade cans as well as Monster drinks. No
alcoholic containers. The officer also had no proof, no pictures and no cans
etc.
Kyle asked for an attorney several times
before and after his arrest. He consented to the blood test because he was coerced,
the officer threatened him and he was scared. If he had a lawyer, he would have
known what to do. He would have taken his chances on the breath test again
because he would not have used his inhaler for a while.
He was never given a phone call and was
denied his inhaler, which is a life or death thing. He could die if he can’t
breathe and the jail had no right to deny him the medicine he needs to sustain
his breath and survive. The outcome could have ended differently. I could have
gone to the jail to pick him up only to find he died in the cell. They would
not have even known until I came to pick him up because they never checked on
him, the only way they even knew he couldn’t breathe was when he begged for his
inhaler.
His rights were again violated in court
when the judge passed sentence on him by ordering the drug and alcohol testing
before he is found guilty. He now has to stay around town, has to be a prisoner
to the phone and call in which is a violation of his constitutional rights. All
he did wrong was use his inhaler and hit an icy patch sending him into a ditch.
This entire experience has traumatized
Kyle. Being arrested, taking the sobriety tests, not being able to make a call,
being denied life sustaining medicine and being humiliated by taking his
clothes off for a drug and alcohol urine test before he has even been proven
guilty.
His rights were also violated because he
can’t leave town when he wants to and is a prisoner to the drug test. He also
has to take his pants off and pee in front of someone for the drug test. That
is a violation of his right to privacy when he has done nothing wrong. They
also expect him to pay for the drug tests, which is another violation of his
constitutional rights. Montezuma County completely stripped Kyle of his rights.
February 23, 2016
Mom’s statement
Kyle went to court to set a date for a
trial but when he went before the judge she said that he had not called in to
the pre-trial testing twice, once on Feb 13 and the other time on Feb 16. He
told her that his phone has been acting up and his lawyer attested to that fact
because she had trouble getting in touch with him but the judge said send him to jail and said the bond is
1500.00. They took Kyle to jail, I bailed him out. Then he told me that he only
missed calling on one time and it was a Tuesday so he didn’t worry about it
because they never have him come in on Tuesday and the other time, the 16th he
called in and went in and tested but the testing facility failed to let the
courts know. He has not paid the court for these “services” either so we wonder
if that might be why he was sent to jail.
The main rub in all of this is that he
did nothing wrong, he has not been found guilty of anything so should not be
going to the drug tests. He is being treated like a criminal before he has been
found guilty. The court is for
sure not allowing him his right of being innocent before proven guilty. They
already convicted and sentenced him before he even went to trial.
Kyle‘s court date is not until April 18.
Until then he will have to succumb to the pre-trial punishment and is actually
be treated like a prisoner in his own town or the judge will order his arrest.
Kyle’s insurance pays for the pre-trial
testing however when the compliance center loses or spills his specimen they
not only charge the insurance company but Kyle had to pay out of pocket to be
tested again or go to jail for non-compliance.
One more note about the judge is that she
belittled Kyle and called him a “threat to society because he was drinking and
driving carelessly” but then added allegedly after that statement, all before
he has been found guilty of anything. He had not even entered a plea at that
time. She publicly humiliated him.
July 2016
We have learned a lot about the justice
system in Montezuma County since this entire incident. First of all we learned
that you are guilty and treated like a criminal before you even go to trial in
Montezuma County. You do not have the right to a lawyer in Montezuma County
even though you ask several times for one.
We also learned if you ever go off the
road, you do not have to get into a police car. You also do not have to say
anything to the officer, all you are required by law to do is give him your
license and registration and let him or her know respectfully that you do not
wish to speak. Now in Montezuma County they might still take you in because the
constitution does not apply here.
This entire nightmare went on until May
17, 2016. Kyle was offered a deal by the DA in early March, he was told if he
would take a Victim Panel class and a Defensive Driving class they would drop
all charges. So he paid for and took the classes because his lawyer said it
would be cheaper than going to trial which he would most likely win but it
would be expensive. He took the classes in early March but had to remain on the
Pre-trail sentencing until May 17, 2016 when the DA dismissed the DUI and
Careless driving charges. The judge fought it all so they put the open
container on diversion. Mind you the officer had no evidence and did not take
pictures so there is no proof of any open container.
The officer did not suspect Kyle of
drinking until after he used his inhaler, in other states the officer is
supposed to wait 20 minutes after someone has eaten or placed anything in their
mouth to issue a breath test. The officer did not wait. Had he waited Kyle
might not have blown high. Actually he would have most likely blown zero in 20
minutes. Once he took Kyle to the jail and he blew zero the officer should have
let him go. The officer omitted that portion of the night from his police
report which would have possibly prevented the pre-trial sentencing.
The way the blood was handled was improper as
well. The officer put it in his warm car, drove around with it for 4 hours and
then dropped it in a night drop at the post office. This would have all been
used as a defense however since the DA dropped the charges, it was not an issue. We believe the DA
knew he had nothing to go on so that is why he dropped the charges. However he
should have taken Kyle off drug test sentencing when he took the classes.
After reading the police report we
found that the officer stated he noticed a “strange alcohol smell” after
getting back into the vehicle. We also discovered that the officer was called
by a local man and woman who had stopped to check on Kyle as they drove by.
The man who called the cops said that
Kyle acted nervous (surprise, he just slid off the road) and the man said that Kyle would
not let him call a tow truck, after Kyle had told the man his mom had already
called for one. (That is in the police report) We still wonder what motive
those people had in calling the police. Clearly the man loves to call tow
trucks and was mad because Kyle didn’t want two of them at the scene.
None of this would have happened if Kyle had allowed the man to call him
a second tow truck. The man did clearly know that Kyle had one coming, but if only he had let the man call one
too the man most likely would have felt satisfied and not called the police. I blame that man for a lot of this because had he used his brain to think the cop would not have entered the scene.
To sum it all up, we
had planned to sue the Montezuma County jail for violating Kyle’s right to life
by denying him his life sustaining medicine. However we have learned since Kyle
did not die, there are no damages. But the lawyers did say that there are many
constitutional violations and we do have a case regarding that portion. Finding
a lawyer to handle that in our area is rough though. Many of the lawyers I have called in the
area already do work for the county so can’t represent Kyle. Lawyers in Denver
I’ve called have been rude and do not want to take the case. Our hope is to
eventually sue the county for violating Kyle’s rights. We would like all costs returned to us,
even legal fees. We also believe that the insurance company should be reimbursed
for paying the drug testing company.
The end result could have been so
different. Had Kyle not known how to relax I would have went to pick him up
to find the jail had killed him by not allowing him to use his inhaler, by
violating his right to life. They should not get away with this. Why should
they be allowed to deny a person his right to life and nothing happens because
the person fails to die on them?
Montezuma County Jail and Court are
getting away with clear constitutional violations. This needs to stop.
We will add the fact that the officer did
not allow Kyle an attorney to the civil suit. Had he been allowed to call an
attorney he would not have taken the blood test and he would have known
possibly how to avoid the pre-trial sentencing.
I have spoken to many law enforcement
personal and lawyers who are appalled at the pre-trial drug testing and state
it is a clear constitutional violation. Actually, several portions of the constitution are
violated by sentencing people to testing after they have paid bail to get out
of jail. We hope to find enough people who have had their rights violated and
begin a class action suit against the county.
Clearly Kyle’s case consists of
violations of his rights as a US citizen and hopefully by writing this story
and exposing the Montezuma County Jail and Montezuma County Court for their
multiple violations something can be done before someone dies in their jail and
to stop free citizens from being made prisoners of the system before even going
to trial.
I hope that someone out there reading
this knows a lawyer who is willing to take this case on and show Montezuma
County and the County jail they can’t violate the rights of US Citizens like
this. We do live in America but I think Montezuma County has forgotten that.
I ask all who read this to share it on your Facebook
wall, share it with anyone you can. I hope this spreads like wildfire. My son
could have died in that jail cell while being held for using his inhaler. A
person having an asthma attack can die within 3 minutes of the attack. If
he had died I wouldn't have even had to write this, it should not
take the jail killing someone for action to be taken against the county in
all of this. Yes I am angry, any mother would be angry but thankfully I am not
grieving over the loss of my son which is what could happen to another mom
whose son the jail denies medicine to. This has to stop! Montezuma County has
to stop stomping on the US Constitution.
May 11, 2017
Current notes: We were not able to sue the county, no one would take the case because Kyle did not die and even though we were out money there was not enough money to gain by suing. So, the county continues to get away with violating peoples rights and arresting them for having asthma.
