Just Step Out and Talk with Us

 "Matthew, at this point you're not in any trouble. Just step outside and talk with me." Not a lie, as in most cases there are two sides to the story and taking the "victim's" statements without knowing the whole truth would often lead to inaccurate bias. So, keeping an open mind until evidence and statements lead to probable cause one way or the other is fundamental.

We're in the darkened doorway, with me off to one side of the door and the other officer on the opposite side, both at angles avoiding being directly in front of the door. Matthew steps outside, lingering with one hand on the door frame and skeptically shifting his eyes between me and the other officer. Matthew is a larger guy, probably my height but easily 250+ lbs, with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He's been drinking, according to the victim's statements and through my own observation by the way he is slightly wavering on his feet and his slippery speech.

Ten minutes of verbal tennis with open-end questions and deflecting, borderline lying, answers. Then, while the other officer is running his name with dispatch, I continue making small talk with him and Matthew slips and gestures that he "touched" his girlfriend of two years. He demonstrates the action, poking aggressively in the air, "Why did YOU do this? Why did YOU do this?!" poking his fingers violently in the air on each word. Matthew says he was merely emphasizing his words by hitting her with his stiff fingers in the arm to help her understand his question.

Matthew clearly, like many people I deal with, doesn't have a grasp of domestic violence laws or pretty much any laws in this state. Harassment: CRS 18-9-111

(1) A person commits harassment if, with intent to harass, annoy, or alarm another person, he or she:

(a) Strikes, shoves, kicks, or otherwise touches a person or subjects him to physical contact..."

A low level misdemeanor (class 3). However, when committed in an intimate relationship, in this case, specifically to control, intimidate, and/or coerce, it's an automatic custodial arrest through the domestic violence enhancer (CRS 18-6-800.3). 

Once the other officer is finished running Matthew, who otherwise has no warrants, we converge on him, advising him he's under arrest for harassment and domestic violence. Based on Matthew's undulating actions and demeanor during our contact with him between calm conversation and clear animosity towards police, I assumed he was going to resist and possibly fight us. But he didn't and, other than Matthew verbally arguing with us and clearly confused that he'd done anything wrong, I had him in cuffs and the other officer searched him. His mouth was defiant but his physical actions weren't and this call was nearly over. 

The other officer transported Matthew to jail and I completed paperwork with the female victim. Then onto the next call, since this was the first one out of briefing and there were many more to come that night.