{"id":2442055,"date":"2019-03-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-23T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=302388"},"modified":"2019-03-24T07:52:31","modified_gmt":"2019-03-24T13:52:31","slug":"aspen-cop-placed-on-leave-during-investigation-into-alleged-threat-of-local-teen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-cop-placed-on-leave-during-investigation-into-alleged-threat-of-local-teen\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen cop placed on leave during investigation into alleged threat of local teen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For the second time in a week, Aspen-area law enforcement officers have been accused of improperly targeting a 17-year-old involved in two recent alcohol and drug-related criminal cases, sources said Friday.<\/p>\n

The first incident occurred last week when a District Court judge angrily questioned the motives of a prosecutor and a detective investigating the 17-year-old, while the second took place Wednesday when a uniformed and armed Aspen police officer allegedly threatened to \u201cmurder\u201d the teen as he waited for a public bus.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in my face,\u201d the 17-year-old said in a phone interview Friday of his interaction with Aspen Police Officer Marcin Debski. \u201cHis face was inches from mine. I was kind of, I guess, scared \u2026 and rattled.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an officer. He carries a gun. He\u2019s supposed to be enforcing the law and he was telling me he was going to murder me. It shook me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debski was placed on administrative leave Wednesday after Aspen police received a complaint about the alleged incident involving the teen, according to a letter from Aspen Police Chief Richard Pryor released Friday. The teen\u2019s father initially filed the complaint with the Pitkin County Sheriff\u2019s Office because \u201che did not trust the Aspen Police Department,\u201d according to a Sheriff\u2019s Office report.<\/p>\n

Aspen police has asked the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to conduct the inquiry into the situation involving Debski, Pryor said.<\/p>\n

Debski did not return a phone call Friday seeking comment.<\/p>\n

However, Pitkin County Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely on Friday denied a restraining order application filed by the 17-year-old \u2014 who is not being identified because he\u2019s a minor \u2014 and his father against Debski.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs there is no indication of any advances towards any physical assault, the court finds no credible threat of imminent danger,\u201d Fernandez-Ely wrote in the order denying the protection order. \u201cAs concerns the request concerning the whole Aspen Police Department, the petitioner\u2019s attorney in his cases can put the APD on notice that all communication \u2026 must be through counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pryor said the mistrust of APD is regrettable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry he feels that way,\u201d he said Friday via phone. \u201cThese were challenging investigations. They can be difficult for everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old Aspen High School student played a central role in the two recent investigations involving teenagers, alcohol and cocaine that Pryor is referring to.<\/p>\n

The first occurred Jan. 2, when teens allegedly broke into the Mountain Chalet lodge<\/a>, stole alcohol and later vandalized another downtown hotel. The arrests of three teens on felony charges about a week later exposed a somewhat long-running scheme by local underage minors to infrequently burglarize and steal alcohol from the hotel.<\/p>\n

The second incident didn\u2019t surface until earlier this month, though it also took place the same night as the Mountain Chalet burglary. That case involves allegations that a 19-year-old Aspen High School senior and his parents gave cocaine to a minor and provided alcohol to a group of minors<\/a> partying at their Aspen Highlands-area home that night.<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old was charged with burglary in connection with the Mountain Chalet incident, according to court records.<\/p>\n

In the course of both investigations, the 17-year-old and his parents allowed police access to his phone. Subsequently, the Pitkin County Sheriff\u2019s Office has charged the teen with felony menacing with a deadly weapon and felony distribution of a controlled substance based on other videos on his phone police watched, according to court records.<\/p>\n

That landed the teen in a Grand Junction juvenile detention facility last week, when Prosecutor Don Nottingham and Bruce Benjamin, the juvenile investigator for the Sheriff\u2019s Office, attempted to convince District Judge Chris Seldin to keep the teen in jail at the March 12 detention hearing.<\/p>\n

Nottingham said that four of the six juvenile criminal cases filed in Pitkin County District Court this year were filed against the 17-year-old and that he was concerned about allowing him back into the community.<\/p>\n

Scott Troxell, the teen\u2019s public defender, said the newest charges filed involved videos on the teen\u2019s phone that dated back to the 2017-18 school year. He also noted that the 17-year-old\u2019s family was frustrated with police after allowing access to the phone, which has resulted in more felony charges.<\/p>\n

The teen\u2019s father at the time said his son had been toeing the line and going to work and school and meeting his obligations.<\/p>\n

Judge Seldin dismissed the allegations behind the menacing with a deadly weapon charge, which involved brandishing a shotgun, as \u201cstupid, macho, high school boy behavior.\u201d He also said a protection order violation involving the teen\u2019s girlfriend was minor.<\/p>\n

That prompted Nottingham to read an email from an Aspen High School vice principal detailing the teen\u2019s failure to do his schoolwork. Seldin then told the prosecutor that he, too, might be failing in school if his every move was being clocked by law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The judge then dressed down Nottingham and Benjamin for law enforcement\u2019s efforts related to the teen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m concerned that the flow of warrant activity in this case doesn\u2019t have to do with (the 17-year-old),\u201d Seldin said. \u201cIf I see more, I will take some action. And that\u2019s all I will say about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seldin allowed the teen out of jail on a $50 personal recognizance bond.<\/p>\n

Pitkin County Sheriff Joe DiSalvo said his agency clearly heard the judge\u2019s message about needing to tread lightly around the teen.<\/p>\n

\u201cA District Court judge is God in our world,\u201d DiSalvo said last week. \u201cWhat he says goes. We respect the judge\u2019s decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came Wednesday\u2019s alleged interaction with Officer Debski.<\/p>\n

The teen said Friday he was sitting in the lobby of the county\u2019s Health and Human Services building near Aspen Valley Hospital after taking a mandated drug test. He saw Debski enter the lobby and look at him, but doesn\u2019t know him and didn\u2019t think much of the brief interaction before leaving to catch the bus, he said.<\/p>\n

Debski followed him to the bus stop and asked the teen if he knew him. The teen said he told him he didn\u2019t and asked the officer to leave him alone.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The officer) said, \u2018I\u2019m not here to talk to you as a cop,\u2019\u201d the teen said Friday. \u201cHe said, \u2018I\u2019m here to talk to you as a father.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Debski asked if he knew his daughter. The teen said he asked her name and told the officer he knew her. Debski told him he didn\u2019t want the teen talking to his daughter or trying to sell her drugs, an allegation he denied, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen he said, \u2018I know who you are and if you talk to her again, I will find out and I will f\u2014ing murder you,\u201d the 17-year-old said in his statement to the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

Debski started to walk away, and the teen said he \u201cfreaked out\u201d and yelled that the officer couldn\u2019t threaten him, he said. Debski then returned and denied he said anything. Bystanders at the bus stop also reported they didn\u2019t hear the interaction, according to a Sheriff\u2019s Office report.<\/p>\n

The teen said Friday he thinks law enforcement is trying to lean on him in an effort to convince him to testify against his friend\u2019s parents, who allegedly provided cocaine to a minor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cops are always coming up to me in school and asking questions,\u201d he said. \u201cEven my friends said, \u2018They won\u2019t leave you alone.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he thinks law enforcement is harassing his son, the teen\u2019s father didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I think?\u201d he said Friday. \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n

jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the second time in a week, Aspen-area law enforcement officers have been accused of improperly targeting a 17-year-old involved in two recent alcohol and drug-related criminal cases, sources said Friday. The first incident occurred last week when a District Court judge angrily questioned the motives of a prosecutor and a detective investigating the 17-year-old, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2442055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 17:12:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2442055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2442055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2442055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2442055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2442055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}