While this year’s larger Winter X Games crowd was well-behaved, there were exceptions.
An intoxicated Jori Moore, for example, apparently didn’t appreciate the assistance of law enforcement officers, who checked on her at Bumps Restaurant, said Alex Burchetta, operations director at the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
The 18-year-old Fruita resident began kicking at officers Saturday and appeared to throw a punch at Basalt Police Chief Greg Knott, Burchetta said.
“That’s when I sat her down and said, ‘You can’t do that,'” Knott said Monday. “That’s when she spit in my face.”
That could have been a huge problem for Moore because spitting at a law enforcement officer is considered felony assault. But Knott decided against taking that step.
“She was an 18-year-old girl who made some bad choices, including spitting in my face,” Knott said. “To put a felony on her at the beginning of her life didn’t feel appropriate.”
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Moore was charged only with underage possession of alcohol.
Besides that, law enforcement officers at Buttermilk, where the X Games is held, also arrested Taylor Leone, 19, of El Dorado Hills, California, and charged her with cocaine possession and resisting arrest, according to police records.
Officers and deputies made three warrant arrests and handled numerous medical issues as well, Burchetta said. On Saturday alone, officers handled 22 medical calls ranging from a sprained ankle to a panic attack to the overly intoxicated, he said.
Overall, however, Burchetta, who spent the weekend at Buttermilk, said it was a fun crowd.
“It was just great,” Burchetta said. “There were larger numbers than last year, but no major issues.”
Knott agreed.
“There were some people that partied too much we just got to a safe place,” he said. “But the vast majority of the crowd had a great time. I enjoyed being there.”
Other felony arrests around Aspen this weekend included two men arrested for cocaine possession, according to court records.
A Colorado State Patrol trooper arrested Gerardo Tejada-Ulloa, 34, hometown unavailable, on Saturday after seeing his car weaving on Highway 82. Tejada-Ulloa allegedly failed roadside sobriety tests, had an open container of alcohol in his car and a substance alleged to be cocaine under his seat, according to an affidavit filed in Pitkin County District Court.
He was charged with DUI, possession of a controlled substance, possession of an open alcohol container, driving without a valid license and weaving.
Aspen police arrested Derek Goolsby, 41, a rapper who goes by the name DJ Scramn, at Bootsy Bellows nightclub Saturday on a felony probation violation warrant from Georgia. Goolsby, who was asked repeatedly if he had drugs on him before he was booked into the jail, also was charged with possession of cocaine and introducing contraband into a detention facility after the drug was found in his wallet at the facility.
Those felony charges complicated Goolsby’s situation when he appeared in Pitkin County District Court on Monday morning.
Prosecutor Don Nottingham said Goolsby could either post bond on the Pitkin County charges, be extradited back to Georgia and come back to deal with the Colorado courts, or deal with the felony charges here first and then be transported to Georgia. A public defender was appointed to assist him.