Courtesy Grand County Sheriff’s Office
A verbal argument Thursday night in Fraser didn’t end well for a 23-year-old man who allegedly fought with police and is now facing a felony charge of assaulting an officer.
According to his arrest affidavit, Adam C. Caplinger has been charged with assault, resisting arrest, obstructing a peace officer, false imprisonment, criminal mischief and third-degree trespassing.
The affidavit says Caplinger had been drinking heavily when Fraser Winter Park police responded to a call about a domestic dispute at a home shared by Caplinger’s girlfriend and her roommate, who’s also friends with Caplinger.
The affidavit says that Caplinger was intoxicated when the roommate came home, and they smoked a little marijuana together. During that time, a fight was brewing between Caplinger and his girlfriend, as Caplinger was reportedly sending her accusatory texts messages before she came home later that evening.
At one point during the argument between Caplinger and his girlfriend, the girlfriend and her roommate both asked Caplinger to leave their home, but he allegedly refused.
The girlfriend also tried to distance herself from Caplinger by going into a downstairs bathroom, the affidavit says, but he followed her into the bathroom, closed the door behind him and refused to let his girlfriend out of the room by blocking the doorway with his body and arms. According to the affidavit, Caplinger kept his girlfriend confined inside the bathroom for about three minutes.
Meanwhile, the roommate heard the yelling and came downstairs with an unloaded shotgun. When the roommate reached the bathroom, Caplinger and his girlfriend were just coming out of the bathroom and the roommate racked the shotgun to scare Caplinger into leaving.
That apparently didn’t work, though, because the affidavit continues by saying Caplinger then tried to take the shotgun away from the roommate and a fight ensued between the two.
During this part of the altercation, the girlfriend reportedly stepped in between Caplinger and the roommate. The affidavit claims Caplinger threw a punch at the roommate, but did not connect. At that point, the roommate went back upstairs with the shotgun and locked himself in another room.
But Caplinger and his girlfriend continued to argue with Caplinger damaging drywall and a locking mechanism on an outside door next to the downstairs bathroom, according to the affidavit, which lists estimated damages to the door at about $50.
Once officers arrived on scene, they spoke with Caplinger, his girlfriend and her roommate, and the officers decided they had enough evidence to arrest Caplinger.
However, the affidavit says that he didn’t go willingly, as Caplinger allegedly became argumentative and refused to obey the officers’ orders even though they gave him multiple chances to comply.
At this point, officers took hold of Caplinger’s arms to put him into handcuffs, and Caplinger allegedly pulled his arms away and started flailing his body. The officers then used “controlled tactics to place Caplinger onto the ground.”
Once on the ground, Caplinger continued to fight the officers, the affidavit says, by refusing to put his hands behind his back. After the officers eventually got control of Caplinger, he continued to refuse orders and it took three officers to lift Caplinger up to get him inside the police cruiser.
While this was happening, Caplinger allegedly tried to head butt one of the officers, but did not connect. Once in the backseat, he continued yelling profanities at police and hit his head against the cage inside the patrol car several times, according to the affidavit.
During the arrest, two of the officers suffered small cuts and abrasions, and one them had a deep cut on his knee that was bleeding heavily. After getting checked out by paramedics, the officer was sent to a local hospital for stitches.
Caplinger was booked into the Grand County Jail. As of Wednesday morning, he was being held on a $10,000 bond.
Caplinger is scheduled to appear for a continued arraignment on Sept. 3. If he doesn’t post bond before his scheduled court date, he could appear sooner, court officials said.