HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-cv-1339 - Groves v. City of Fort Collins, et al - 004 - Complaint 1
LARIMER COUNTY DISTRICT COURT
STATE OF COLORADO
201 LaPorte Ave
Fort Collins, CO 80521
▲ COURT USE ONLY ▲
DERRICK GROVES,
Plaintiff,
v.
CITY OF FORT COLLINS,
JASON HAFERMAN,
SERGEANT ALLEN HEATON, and
CORPORAL REDACTED,
Defendants.
Case Number:
2023CV
Division:
Co-counsel for Plaintiff:
Sarah Schielke, #42077 P: (970) 493-1980
The Life & Liberty Law Office F: (970) 797-4008
1209 Cleveland Avenue
Loveland, CO 80537
sarah@lifeandlibertylaw.com
Matthew Haltzman, #47913 P: (970) 692-3440
Haltzman Law Firm, P.C. F: (970) 797-2419
204 Maple Street, Unit 101
Fort Collins, CO 80521
matthew@haltzmanlaw.com
COMPLAINT AND JURY DEMAND
COMES NOW the Plaintiff, Derrick Groves, by and through the undersigned counsel,
with this Complaint and Jury Demand and in support of the same, respectfully submits as
follows:
INTRODUCTION
1. Plaintiff brings this civil rights action pursuant to § 13-21-131, C.R.S. and 42 U.S.C. §
1983 and 1988 for various forms of relief, to include compensatory damages and
attorney’s fees, stemming from Defendants’ violations of Plaintiff’s rights guaranteed by
the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States and
Article II, Section 7 of the Colorado Constitution.
2. The Court has jurisdiction over Plaintiff’s claims pursuant to § 13-21-131, C.R.S., § 13-1-
124(1)(b), C.R.S., because the acts giving rise to the claims were committed in the State
DATE FILED: May 3, 2023 7:48 PM
FILING ID: 78E2E7378B119
CASE NUMBER: 2023CV30357
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 1 of 44
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of Colorado, and pursuant to state court supplemental jurisdiction over the federal claims
arising out of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
3. Pursuant to C.R.C.P. 98(c)(5), venue is proper in this Court, which Plaintiff designates as
the place of trial for this action.
4. Jurisdiction supporting Plaintiff’s claim for attorney’s fees is conferred by 42 U.S.C. § 1988
and § 13-21-131(3).
5. All of the event described herein occurred in the Town of Fort Collins and the State of
Colorado.
PARTIES
6. Plaintiff Derrick Groves is, and at all times relevant to this Complaint has been, a resident
of the State of Colorado. He currently resides in Loveland, Colorado.
7. Defendant (former) Fort Collins Police Officer Jason Haferman (“Officer Haferman”) was
at all times relevant to this complaint duly appointed and sworn as a police officer working
for Fort Collins Police Services. Upon information and belief, Defendant Haferman has
resigned from FCPS but has retained his P.O.S.T. certification in Colorado and continues
to work in law enforcement. Haferman is a named Defendant in his individual capacity.
8. Defendant City of Fort Collins is a governmental entity and municipality incorporated
under the laws of the State of Colorado for purposes of liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
and the Fort Collins Police Services is a department of City of Fort Collins. Defendant City
of Fort Collins enforces local and state law through its law enforcement agency, the Fort
Collins Police Department (“FCPS”).
9. At all times relevant to this Complaint, Defendant City of Fort Collins employed and was
responsible for the oversight, supervision, discipline and training of FCPS personnel,
including Officer Haferman, Sergeant Heaton, and Corporal Redacted.
10. Defendant City of Fort Collins was also, at all times relevant to this Complaint, the body
responsible for FCPS’s official policies and practices as well as FCPS’s unofficial customs
and practices with respect to DUI arrests and probable cause.
11. Defendant Sergeant Allen Heaton was responsible for supervising Officer Haferman over
the period that he made the repeated wrongful DUI arrests at issue in this Complaint, and
also personally participated in or otherwise observed several of the wrongful DUI arrests
preceding Plaintiff’s arrest. Defendant Heaton is sued in his individual and official
capacities.
12. Defendant , whose true name is currently unknown, is a Corporal
at FCPS who at all times relevant to this complaint was duly appointed and sworn as a
police officer working for Fort Collins Police Services. FCPS has claimed in documents
such as the 68-page internal investigation report regarding Officer Haferman that this
Corporal was responsible for supervising Officer Haferman during the period of
Haferman’s repeated wrongful DUI arrests. It is unclear why FCPS has redacted
Haferman’s supervising Corporal’s name from publicly released documents regarding
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 2 of 44
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Officer Haferman. Upon information and belief, Corporal Redacted’s name will be easily
identified in the discovery process and so this Corporal will simply be referred to as
“Corporal Redacted” until that time. Corporal Redacted is sued in his individual and official
capacities.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
13. Officer Haferman began working at FCPS in 2017 as a patrol officer.
14. Even as a normal patrol officer, Officer Haferman immediately established himself as a
prolific arrester for DUI offenses.1 In fact, he accumulated so many DUI arrests in his first
two years working at FCPS as a regular patrol officer that in 2020, FCPS decided to
promote him to their “DUI Officer,” which meant his primary daily objective every time he
worked was to ignore all other regular calls for service and instead spend his shift seeking
out and charging as many drivers as possible with DUIs.
15. FCPS, like most other Colorado law enforcement agencies, had great incentive to create
positions like “DUI officers” and fill those roles with individuals like Haferman because
grant funding at both the state and federal levels was allotted to agencies through
reasoning that takes into account the quantity of DUI arrests that agency had made in
preceding years. The more DUI arrests an agency made each year, the more the agency
would profess DUI drivers to be a huge “problem” in their jurisdiction, and then the more
grant funding they would receive to do DUI enforcement next year. The additional funding
provided by these grants would typically pay for all of the hours worked by the agency’s
“DUI officer” (often at an elevated overtime hourly rate) and would also go to fund more
equipment and officers for the agency itself, in effect, enabling the department to increase
its annual budget on its own. Various agencies like MADD (Mothers Against Drunk
Driving) would also give awards and extensive positive publicity to agencies that had
officers making abundant DUI arrests, which was of course quite also desirable to both
agency and officer for enhancing their respective images in the eyes of the public.
16. Due to the foregoing, FCPS was eager to put its most prolific DUI charging officer in the
role of “DUI Officer” whenever possible. Haferman applied for this position and because
he had already shown such promise in making so many DUI arrests in his normal patrol
shift, in May of 2020, FCPS gave him the job.
17. At the same time, the coronavirus pandemic had just struck. Bars and restaurants all
closed and other recreational events like concerts and festivals were all cancelled. This
brought DUI enforcement (and much of the public’s driving generally) to a near standstill
for several months, as there were concerns about the safety of breath testing or housing
DUI offenders in jails due to the virus’s known propensity for spreading in respiratory
droplets in poorly ventilated spaces.
18. A vaccine was developed and began to be distributed to the public at the end of 2020.
Much of the economy began to reopen and people began resumption of more normal
1 Colorado has several DUI-type offenses (DUI, DWAI, DUI per se, and DUI-Drugs). The impact
and import of a citizen being charged with any of those DUI-type offenses is nearly identical and
so for ease of reference the term “DUIs” as used herein is meant to encompass all such offenses
unless otherwise specified.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 3 of 44
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commuting and public gatherings. Law enforcement agencies like FCPS directed their
officers to return to normal practices for DUI enforcement.
19. Officer Haferman was eager to show his superiors at FCPS that he was going to be the
most prolific DUI officer they had ever had since the position was created. Upon
information and belief, only some of which is detailed herein, he began regularly stopping
cars without reasonable suspicion and making arrests without probable cause very early
on in his stint as FCPS’s DUI officer.
20. On one such occasion, on November 27, 2020, Officer Haferman stopped and harassed
the occupants of a vehicle merely because he believed the driver had had prior law
enforcement contacts. He detained the driver and its occupants with no legal basis for an
extended period of time, forcing them unlawfully to wait for a K9 unit to arrive to search
their vehicle. The driver, Jacob Larkin, later filed a motion to suppress the stop due to this
illegal detention. At the suppression hearing, Officer Haferman admitted he was not a
trained DRE (Drug Recognition Expert) but he claimed to be able to diagnose Mr. Larkin
as “being under the influence of narcotics” because he looked tired. The Larimer County
District Court, in finding that Haferman’s detention of Mr. Larkin was in fact unlawful and
a violation of the Fourth Amendment, noted that “not even a DRE, 12-step protocol, based
on mere observations of the subject in a few minutes, in the dark, while engaging in a
conversation with another individual [as Haferman testified] could reach such a
conclusion.” The Court also stated in its written ruling that in Mr. Larkin’s case “there are
multiple obvious and logical reasons that were not explored [by Haferman] in any manner,”
all of which “negate[d] any reasonable assumption that a crime has or is about to occur.”
21. The Judge also ruled in the Larkin case that Haferman was unreasonable in characterizing
so many various aspects of very normal human behavior like “being on edge about being
contacted by police” as grounds to continue seizing the person in violation of the Fourth
Amendment. Most importantly, the Court, after hearing Haferman’s testimony, openly
questioned the veracity of Haferman’s testimony. As the Court wrote: “Officer Haferman
testified he was certain it was multiple [prior law enforcement] contacts [in defendant’s
history]; however, the Court questions the accuracy of such when the rest of [Haferman’s]
testimony regarding this point was incredibly non-specific and couldn’t distinguish the
research regarding Mr. Larkin versus [the passenger].” The Court held that Haferman’s
continued detention of Mr. Larkin was thus “unquestionably unconstitutional” and all the
evidence in the case was suppressed.
22. Thus by early 2021,2 at basically the inception of his tenure as “DUI Officer,” FCPS had
notice that Haferman was engaging in wrongful searches and seizures of citizens. But
FCPS did nothing.
2 Upon information and belief, Haferman had several wrongful DUI arrests prior to 2021 however
Fort Collins has endeavored not to answer questions or provide in any timely fashion records in
response to requests from defense counsel or the media related to those arrests. The various
wrongful DUI arrests set forth in this Complaint are thus based on very incomplete records and
not meant to be a comprehensive accounting of all the notice attributable to FCPS regarding
Haferman’s wrongful and unconstitutional arrest decisions.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 4 of 44
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23. Haferman received the same training as any other officer with respect to the
administration of SFSTs (Standardized Field Sobriety Tests). Yet, immediately, Haferman
began administering SFSTs to subjects in a manner that was entirely inconsistent with his
training and designed to create a false impression of the subject’s intoxication when
described by him in his reports.
24. Most critically, all of the defects in Haferman’s administrations of roadside tests were
abundantly observable on video. They included, and are not limited to:
a. Haferman regularly interpreted normal human behaviors as “cues” or “clues” of
impairment when his training instructed the opposite.
b. Haferman regularly claimed that his training supported his claims of other
innocuous human behaviors being indications of impairment when no such training
or scientifically-backed validation data existed.
c. Haferman also regularly administered the Horizontal Gaze Nystgamus (HGN) test
to people completely wrong, and would then falsely claim that what he observed
in his HGN administration on the subject supported his arrest decision.
25. Haferman also by early 2021 was regularly writing reports containing lies and
exaggerations regarding the claimed observed indications of impairment, regularly
controverted by his or his cover officers’ own videos.
26. Haferman also by early 2021 was regularly muting and deactivating his bodyworn camera
during his citizen contacts and arrests, in violation of FCPS policy and Colorado law.
27. All of the issues described in the three preceding paragraphs were observable on video.
In other words, if anyone at FCPS were supervising Haferman during this time and had
watched just one of his (or his cover officer’s) videos of his SFST administration, or
compared one of his videos to his written reports, they would have immediately identified
all of the foregoing problems. They were plain and obvious.
28. Either no one was supervising Haferman at FCPS, or, someone was, and they just did
not care to intervene.
29. Upon information and belief, at least one of the individuals personally responsible for
supervising Haferman during this period was Corporal Redacted.
30. Corporal Redacted has admitted in an IA investigation into Haferman that early on in his
period of having the duties of supervising Haferman and reviewing his work (January 2021
through May 2022), he noticed that Haferman was counting as a clue of impairment on
one of the standardized roadside tests something that was not a clue of impairment at all.
Specifically, Haferman was claiming subjects to show impairment on this maneuver if they
didn’t count to 30 during the 30-second-timed one-leg stand maneuver.
a. It is expressly included as part of the standardized field sobriety training provided
by NHTSA on how to administer roadsides the admonition that what the subject
counts to while being timed holding their leg up for 30 seconds is irrelevant.
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Particularly since they are instructed to count in “one-one-thousand, two-one-
thousand” fashion which is almost always considerably slower than the rate that
seconds elapse in real time.
b. Corporal Redacted saw that Haferman was repeatedly stating subjects were failing
and/or showing impairment clues on the one-leg stand test because of this clue
that he had not just made up, but which the NHTSA manual in fact told him
expressly not to consider a clue.
c. Corporal Redacted, noticing this, confronted Haferman about his repeated
misrepresentation of impairment evidence against people he had arrested in his
DUI reports. He told him it was not an impairment indicator and he needed to stop
using it as one.
d. Haferman did not respond by acknowledging this as a mistake, however. Instead,
Haferman told Corporal Redacted, his superior, that this was “an advanced
technique to indicate impairment.” Corporal Redacted asked where such
advanced training would have come from. Officer Haferman refused to say.
e. This was the first of many red flags to Corporal Redacted and FCPS about Officer
Haferman.
f. Any reasonable supervising officer knows that police officers making DUI arrests
compile most, if not all, of their “evidence” of the driver’s impairment by having
them do roadside tests which are supposed to be standardized and done
according to training. Any reasonable supervising officer would recognize that if a
subordinate police officer was making up his own “advanced” impairment detection
clues on these tests and then making arrest decisions based on such nonsense
(and having the audacity to tell his corporal that he wasn’t violating the NHTSA
training manual, he was just doing something “advanced”), that this would create
an unacceptably high probability of that officer wrongfully arresting innocent people
and almost certainly disregarding other critical components of police work.
g. Any reasonable supervising officer in this situation, after hearing Haferman’s
completely absurd claim that the impairment clues he used in violation of his
training saying otherwise were simply “advanced” impairment clues, would have
at a minimum taken an hour or two to review Haferman’s DUI arrest videos
(particularly in any one of the many “none detected” or extremely low BAC DUI
arrest cases that Haferman had had up to that point) and see if Haferman was
doing other roadsides correctly and if he was reporting the facts accurately in his
reports.
h. Any reasonable supervising officer in this situation also would have recognized
that Haferman treating this non-clue as an impairment clue could have contributed
to prosecutors prosecuting DUI cases they would not have otherwise prosecuted
or citizens pleading to crimes they did not commit, due to the false claims in
Haferman’s report on this maneuver. Any reasonable supervising officer in this
situation would have at least generated a supplemental report in all the cases
where Haferman listed this non-clue as evidence of impairment, correcting that
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 6 of 44
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misimpression, so that those individuals affected by it could be notified and make
important decisions in their cases in light of it accordingly. Particularly since
Haferman’s inclusion of this non-clue as a clue also had considerable bearing and
impact on his credibility and reliability as a DUI investigator.
i. Corporal Redacted did none of these things. He just told Haferman to stop using
the non-clue as a clue and until Haferman went under investigation for multiple,
repeated wrongful DUI arrests a year later, he never even spoke to anyone of it
again.
31. On January 21, 2021, Officer Haferman made his next wrongful arrest, this time of C.B.3
Like he did in all his DUI arrest reports (see infra), he included false and exaggerated
claims of the driver having “overall slow behavior,” “droopy eyes,” and failed roadside
maneuvers. C.B. even blew into a PBT on scene (Portable Breath Test) and the result
was triple zeroes (0.000 BAC). But Haferman arrested her anyway and charged her with
DUI.
a. Review of the bodyworn camera (BWC) videos from C.B.’s arrest reveals multiple
discrepancies between what actually occurred and what Officer Haferman alleged
about her in his report.
b. Haferman listed C.B. having “droopy eyes” as an indication of impairment even
though she literally explained to him she had a medical condition (blepharoptosis)
that caused her to have droopy eyes.
c. Review of the BWC video from C.B.’s arrest reveals yet another occasion on which
Haferman muted his BWC for nearly the entirety of his contact, in violation of FCPS
policy and Colorado law. It is obvious from his video that this tampering was
deliberate, as Haferman reactivates his audio for brief a 13-minute period in the
middle of the 90+ minute video before muting it again.
d. It is obvious from the videos in C.B.’s arrest that Haferman is administering the
HGN to C.B. incorrectly and claiming in his report HGN “clues” that did not exist.
e. On March 19, 2021, C.B.’s blood test results came back negative for alcohol and
negative for all drugs of abuse.
f. On March 20, 2021, Haferman reviewed the blood test results and entered them
into C.B.’s case.
g. That same day, at least one of Haferman’s supervising officers, Defendant
Sergeant Allen Heaton, claims to have reviewed Haferman’s arrest and the
negative blood test results and approved of both.
3 To protect the privacy of individuals who have been victims of Officer Haferman’s wrongful
arrests but who have not yet chosen to come forward publicly, initials are being used in lieu of
their full names.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 7 of 44
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32. Thus, as of March 20, 2021, FCPS as an entity and supervising officers Sergeant Heaton
and Corporal Redacted personally, again had notice that Haferman was wrongfully
arresting innocent people. This time, not only did they do nothing to stop it; but at least
one of them expressly approved of the behavior.
33. It should also be noted that by FCPS’s own admission in response to a media inquiry
about Haferman’s DUI arrests a year later (in May 2022), they stated through their press
relations officer that they “always conduct an internal review of any DUI arrest made
by one of its officers that has chemical test results come back negative for
drugs/alcohol.”
34. Thus, according to FCPS’s own claims, multiple superior officers at FCPS would have
had to have reviewed Haferman’s wrongful DUI arrest of C.B. in March 2021, and
therefore seen: the issues with his roadside administration, discrepancies between the
video and his report, and his violation of policy and law by muting his BWC through most
of the contact, and not only done nothing to intervene, but actually approved of it.
35. Interestingly, however, despite the claims FCPS made to the press purporting to be
supervising and reviewing Haferman’s negative blood test DUI arrests during this time,
the Axon Evidence Audit Trail for Haferman’s BWC video from the C.B. arrest reveals
that no one at FCPS ever looked at Haferman’s video until more than a year later
(on May 29, 2022) when FCPS was already under fire and public scrutiny for having
permitted Haferman to make so many wrongful DUI arrests for so long without any
supervision or intervention.
36. In any event, no remedial action, discipline, or any other form of verbal counseling was
given to Haferman by FCPS supervisory personnel regarding the wrongful arrest of C.B.
And so, he carried on.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 8 of 44
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37. On February 18, 2021, Officer Haferman made his next wrongful DUI arrest, this time of
the disabled veteran Harley Padilla. At the time Haferman stopped Mr. Padilla, Mr. Padilla
required a wheelchair to safely walk and had to speak through a tracheotomy tube in his
throat. Mr. Padilla had just recently survived a terrible motorcycle accident. It is extremely
difficult to watch the video of Haferman’s mistreatment of Mr. Padilla. In addition to
insulting and denigrating Mr. Padilla both during the stop and throughout the arrest report
he wrote about him later, Haferman also made an extraordinary number of false claims
about Mr. Padilla in his report that were observably contradicted by his BWC video. For
example:
a. Haferman claimed that Mr. Padilla weaved once over the center line to a significant
degree. Haferman’s video revealed this to be false. A Larimer County Judge later
ruled that this claim was observably false.
b. Haferman claimed that Mr. Padilla was “slow to react” and didn’t respond to the
overhead red and blue lights “as a sober person would.” Haferman’s video
revealed this to be false. A Larimer County Judge later ruled that this claim was
observably false.
c. Haferman claimed that Mr. Padilla’s verbal responses were slurred and
nonsensical, and indicative of impairment. Haferman’s video revealed this to be
false. A Larimer County Judge later ruled that this claim was observably false. Also
- Mr. Padilla did not have a larynx and it is worth reiterating that he had to speak
through a trach tube hole in his throat. Even this reality did not make Haferman
think twice about making his absurd typical false claims in his DUI arrest report of
Mr. Padilla regarding “slurred speech” and “slow responses.”
d. Haferman claimed that Mr. Padilla was “rambling on” about “nonsensical” things
and requesting an ambulance without explaining what injury or ailment he had.
The video revealed none of this to be true. Mr. Padilla was coherent and responded
appropriately to all questions. Mr. Padilla’s request for an ambulance was made in
response to Haferman repeatedly ordering Mr. Padilla to get out of his car after Mr.
Padilla had already told him he needed a wheelchair first to do so.
e. Mr. Padilla told Haferman several times he was missing a hip and would need a
wheelchair to ambulate outside of his vehicle. Haferman can be heard on video
telling Mr. Padilla that he “don’t have a wheelchair on demand” and that Mr. Padilla
should just get out and let Haferman assist him.
f. Haferman is then heard on video trying to get the utterly disabled Mr. Padilla to
agree to participate in literal physical roadside maneuvers. Mr. Padilla,
incredulous, said “no” and then repeated that he required a wheelchair to ambulate
outside of his car. Haferman left all of this out of his arrest report of Mr. Padilla. Mr.
Padilla requested a wheelchair more than 7 times in the first 15 minutes of the
stop. Yet there is literally no reference to Mr. Padilla’s requests for a wheelchair
anywhere in Haferman’s report.
g. Haferman also claimed (like he always did in his DUI arrest reports) that Mr. Padilla
had “glassy” and “droopy” eyes. The video revealed this to be a deliberately false
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 9 of 44
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mischaracterization of Mr. Padilla’s existing physical deformities as instead being
claimed impairment indicators. The video shows that Mr. Padilla’s body, face, and
parts of his eyelids were covered in burn scars. Observable burn scars on one’s
eyelids would naturally cause one’s eyes to appear “glassy” or “droopy” at all times,
and thus would also make the idea of listing these permanent physical features as
instead indicators of impairment supporting a DUI arrest entirely ludicrous.
h. Haferman informed Mr. Padilla he could smell marijuana and Mr. Padilla explained
that he had a medical card for use of medical marijuana to treat pain from the
catastrophic injuries he sustained to his body in a motorcycling accident.
Haferman, knowing that anyone who uses marijuana on any regular basis will
always have some trace amount of THC in their blood, happily arrested Mr. Padilla
despite the absence of any impairment indicators.
i. Mr. Padilla requested that Haferman call an ambulance. Haferman asked him why.
Mr. Padilla said because Haferman was harassing him, ordering him to get out of
his car which was dangerous, and that he wanted to just go get a blood test now
to prove his innocence and knew he could not be safely transported to the hospital
in the back of Haferman’s patrol car. Haferman included none of this in his report
and instead wrote that Mr. Padilla kept asking for an ambulance “but was unable
to explain what injury or ailment he had.”
j. Finally, after some supervising officers showed up4 and Haferman proceeded to
insult and humiliate Mr. Padilla in front of them some more, an ambulance arrived
to transport Mr. Padilla to the hospital for a blood test. Then Haferman took Mr.
Padilla to jail. Because Mr. Padilla had several DUIs from over ten years prior, the
DUI that Haferman charged him with was a felony.
k. Mr. Padilla could not afford to post the bond set on this class 4 felony DUI. As a
result, and because he was unwilling to plead guilty to an offense he knew he had
not committed, he sat in jail awaiting trial for over a year.
l. Mr. Padilla’s blood test came back on April 21, 2021, showing trace amounts of
THC presumed to be unimpairing under Colorado law. At the time those results
came back, it also was (and remains) well known and accepted in all scientific
communities that there is no correlation between such trace amounts of THC and
impairment in any medical marijuana user.
m. Finally, on March 3, 2022, Mr. Padilla’s case was heard by a judge in a bench trial.
The state presented as expert witness a forensic toxicologist from CBI who testified
that Mr. Padilla’s blood results offered nothing to support the claim that he was
impaired:
4 If Corporal Redacted or Sergeant Heaton were in this group of officers, this constitutes even
more specific notice to them regarding Haferman’s ongoing disregard for the rights of citizens.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 10 of 44
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n. Larimer County District Court Judge Cure acquitted Mr. Padilla of DUI, DWAI, and
Careless Driving. In doing so, the Court further ruled that “based on the totality of
the circumstances and the evidence presented, the Court finds that Officer
Haferman lacks credibility.” The Court ruled that “his testimony was inconsistent”
and “changed course on several of the key facts.” The Court further ruled that
“[s]ome of [Haferman’s] testimony is not supported by the evidence,” while “some
of it was contrary to the evidence.” The Court also made the finding that “Officer
Haferman’s testimony exaggerated the bad driving in this case, not only with his
testimony today, but as found on the point of view [video] on February 18 of 2021,
when relaying that [information about driving] to dispatch.”
o. Even the most cursory review of the claims and descriptions of impairment
indications in Haferman’s report, when compared to his BWC video, reveals the
Larimer County District Court Judge’s findings to be true.
p. In other words, if any supervisor at all at FCPS had ever bothered to supervise
Haferman, or to otherwise even simply review Haferman’s video after Mr. Padilla’s
blood results came back on April 21, 2021 showing no evidence of impairment,
they would have seen that yet again Haferman was lying and exaggerating in his
reports about impairment indicators in order to continue his reign as the
department’s most prolific DUI officer, by repeatedly wrongfully arresting
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 11 of 44
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observably innocent people and charging them with DUI/DWAI offenses they did
not commit.
38. Of course, no one at FCPS was supervising Haferman or reviewing his videos.
39. The reality stated in the paragraph above continued despite the fact that the DUI arrest
numbers Haferman was putting up just 6 months into his post-pandemic-lockdown term
as DUI Officer (in the November 2020 – May 2021 timeframe) were significantly higher
than any other DUI officer to precede him in the history of the department.
40. The sheer quantity of DUI arrests being made by Haferman by this point (over 100), in
addition to the negative blood test results now repeatedly coming back on those arrests,
should have alerted any reasonable supervising officer of the need to check Haferman’s
work and ensure he was not violating the constitutional rights of innocent citizens like
Plaintiff.
41. If any reasonable supervising officer had looked at any of the videos from Haferman’s DUI
arrests involving negative or near-negative blood test results at this time, they would have
seen exactly what the Larimer County District Court Judge saw in the Larkin and Padilla
cases, and which of course was also something that any lay person could have easily
seen after spending just 10 minutes comparing Haferman’s arrest reports with his BWC
videos: That is, that:
a. Officer Haferman was regularly arresting and charging with DUI individuals who
appeared quite observably unimpaired on video and that he was systematically
lying and exaggerating in his arrest reports regarding evidence of impairment for
those cases; and
b. Officer Haferman was not administering the SFSTs as trained and was claiming
all kinds of normal features of normal human behavior to constitute scientifically
validated clues of impairment; and
c. That Haferman was also regularly targeting and exploiting drivers with disabilities,
claiming that all the symptoms of their known medical conditions were instead
proof of alcohol/drug impairment.
42. But, because no one was actually supervising Haferman, and because his supervisors
were instead approving and lauding his DUI arrest numbers despite the increasing
number of blood test results coming back in his cases proving that he had in fact also
been arresting innocent people, Haferman happily continued with the unconstitutional
conduct and – in the latter half of 2021, really even picked it up a notch.
43. On May 15, 2021, Officer Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of G.C.
He again included the same false statements and exaggerations of impairment indicators
in his report for G.C. He again failed to administer the roadside tests to G.C. in the
standardized manner he was trained. He again claimed all the clues of HGN present when
they were not, and he again administered the HGN test incorrectly. He also made G.C.
go through all the roadside tests despite her being 65 years old and having several
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 12 of 44
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medical conditions contraindicating their use. There were again multiple discrepancies
between his BWC videos and what he claimed occurred in his report.
a. Haferman arrested G.C. and she did a breath test at the police station, which
produced a result of .035% BAC, well under the limit for DUI or DWAI, and, by
Colorado law, presumed to be an unimpairing BAC.
b. Haferman charged G.C. with DWAI and Careless Driving anyway.
c. The district attorney promptly dismissed the DWAI charge. However, due to the
Careless Driving charge, the wrongfully charged DWAI was unable to be sealed
from G.C.’s record.
d. FCPS officer Jason Bogosian (possibly Corporal Redacted) claimed to have
reviewed this arrest and approved of it.
e. No remedial action, discipline, or any other form of verbal counseling was given to
Haferman by FCPS supervisory personnel regarding the wrongful arrest of G.C.
44. On June 10, 2021, Officer Haferman made his next wrongful DUI arrest, this time of R.B.
When he stopped R.B., R.B. was clearly having a mental health episode and in need of
medical attention. He told Haferman this, many times. Yet Haferman did not get R.B.
medical attention. Instead, he listed all of R.B.’s mental health behaviors as indications of
impairment, and then arrested him for DUI.
a. On August 29, 2021, Haferman received R.B.’s blood results. They were negative
for alcohol and all impairing drugs.
b. Haferman’s supervising officer Defendant Sergeant Heaton (and possibly Corporal
Redacted) again claimed to have approved of Haferman’s report and arrest.
c. The district attorney promptly dismissed the DUI charge against R.B.
d. No remedial action, discipline, or any other form of verbal counseling was given to
Haferman by FCPS supervisory personnel regarding the wrongful arrest of R.B.
45. On June 11, 2021, Officer Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of Cody
Erbacher. Mr. Erbacher admitted to having had one beer several hours earlier in the day,
however, and to Haferman, any admission to any drinking at any prior time become
sufficient grounds in his mind – despite the absence of any actual indications of
impairment – to make a DUI arrest. He again included the false statements and
exaggerations of impairment indicators in his report for Mr. Erbacher. He again failed to
administer the roadside tests in the standardized manner he was trained. He lied about
Mr. Erbacher showing clues/signs of impairment when there were none. There were again
multiple additional discrepancies between BWC videos and what Haferman claimed
occurred in his report.
a. On November 10, 2021, Haferman received Mr. Erbacher’s blood results. They
were negative for alcohol and all drugs.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 13 of 44
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b. It appears from the reports in Mr. Erbacher’s case that Haferman now no longer
even had a supervising or approving officer pretending to review his arrests.
c. Despite FCPS claiming that all negative blood test results received by their agency
were subjected to an “internal review,” the documents in Mr. Erbacher’s case
indicate that absolutely no one at FCPS, internal or otherwise, was reviewing or
claiming to review anything in this Haferman wrongful arrest with “none detected”
results nor in any other Haferman wrongful arrest.
d. Upon receipt of the blood results, the district attorney promptly dismissed the DUI
charge against Mr. Erbacher.
e. Until Haferman’s pattern of constitutional violations was brought to the attention of
the local and national news media in April 2022, absolutely no remedial action,
discipline, or any other form of verbal counseling was ever given to Haferman by
FCPS supervisory personnel regarding the wrongful arrest of Mr. Erbacher.
46. On July 23, 2021, Officer Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of Carl
Sever. Mr. Sever was 74 years old at the time Haferman arrested him. He was driving
home from the gym. Haferman claimed to pull him over because Mr. Sever was “going 10
mph under the speed limit.” Going 10 mph under the speed limit is not unlawful.
a. Haferman falsely claimed in his report that there was an odor of alcohol coming
from Mr. Sever’s vehicle and from “his breath.” Mr. Sever had not drank alcohol in
more than 10 years. He told Haferman this.
b. Haferman again made false claims in his report (controverted by the BWC video)
that Mr. Sever had “slow speech” and nonsensical claims that his “body behavior
was slow.” It is difficult to imagine what speed of movement Haferman was
expecting out of this, or any other, 74-year-old, in order to not be declared drunk.
c. With Mr. Sever, Haferman again muted his BWC when a cover officer arrived and
kept it muted for the rest of his roadside test administration with Mr. Sever.
d. Haferman again failed to administer the roadside tests in the standardized manner
he was trained. Haferman again counted as clues of “impairment” against Mr.
Sever various features of normal human behavior that were not, by any training or
manual, actual clues of impairment.
e. Mr. Sever advised Haferman that he had a TBI from a car accident. Haferman
deliberately omitted this from his report.
f. Haferman arrested Mr. Sever for DUI and took him for a blood draw. Then he took
Mr. Sever to jail. When Mr. Sever was released the next day, he did not have his
phone, wallet, or car, and did not know the number for anyone he could call to pick
him up. As a result, he had to walk 4.5 miles home.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 14 of 44
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g. More than 3 months later, on November 9, 2021, Mr. Sever’s blood test results
came back. They were negative for alcohol and impairing drugs. There was merely
some trace THC (1.4 ng) at a level presumed by Colorado law to be unimpairing
and a trace amount of Mr. Sever’s anti-seizure medication which he had been
prescribed for over 15 years.
h. The Larimer DA’s Office dismissed the charges against Mr. Sever.
47. On July 29, 2021, Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of Jesse
Cunningham. Mr. Cunningham is a disabled veteran and the Vice President of a veteran
nonprofit organization in Nebraska dedicated to helping veterans reintegrate into their
communities after leaving the military and fighting to prevent veteran suicide. He had
come to Colorado for the week with his wife and two daughters on family vacation. His
day had started off tragically – receiving the news that a close family friend of his had
died. Not wanting to ruin the whitewater rafting trip the family had planned together for the
rest of the day, he tried to put it out of his mind and went along. After the rafting trip, he
attempted to get money out of a nearby ATM to tip the rafting instructor. The ATM claimed
to be dispensing money but nothing came out. This left Mr. Cunningham and his family
with no choice but to wait around for nearly two hours waiting for the ATM operator to
refund the cash the machine had deducted. While waiting, he had two 3.2% alcohol (PBR)
beers. After the ATM owner arrived and fixed the mistake, he and his family went to
McDonald’s to get some food before making the drive back to where they were staying in
Estes Park. After eating, at 8:15 pm, they started their drive there. Just minutes in, at 8:18
pm, they witnessed a horrific motorcycle accident caused by a Mazda RX-7 driver pulling
out in front of 3 motorcyclists at an intersection, causing them all to crash. One of the
motorcyclists impacted the Mazda and went cartwheeling through the air and landing in
critical condition in a ditch.
a. Mr. Cunningham is a combat veteran with 32 months of combat experience and
combat lifesaving training. He immediately pulled over, had his wife call 911, and
ran to provide aid. The motorcyclist’s leg was nearly severed from the knee down
and his femur bone was sticking out of his skin by about 8”. The rider’s femur had
been “desleeved” which means that the force of the impact was so great that it had
removed all the tissue, tendons, and blood off the bone.
b. Mr. Cunningham, understanding the severity of the rider’s injuries and the need for
prompt lifesaving measures, immediately began stabilizing the rider, using the T-
shirt of a bystander to control the bleeding. As he did this, he assessed the rest of
the rider’s injuries while also triaging the other two injured motorcyclists.
c. The scene was utterly chaotic with multiple injured riders in need of help and
dozens of bystanders getting out of their cars to come and watch or ask to assist.
While he worked to stem the bleeding from the rider’s desleeved femur, Mr.
Cunningham also managed to take control of the scene, quickly giving directions
to people on where to go, who to call, and what to do to assist him.
d. When paramedics finally arrived on scene, Mr. Cunningham filled them in on the
list of all injuries he had triaged and brought them up to speed on the life- and leg-
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 15 of 44
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saving measures he had taken so far with respect to the most injured rider so they
could take over.
e. Since Mr. Cunningham and his family were the main witnesses to this accident,
FCPS officers asked them to remain on scene and fill out witness statements
describing what they saw. They did so. The officers then asked if they would
remain on scene to answer any questions that the accident reconstruction officers
would have. They were all exhausted, both physically and mentally, Mr.
Cunningham in particular. Even still, they all said they would continue to stay there
to do whatever was needed to assist.
f. While waiting for the accident reconstruction team to arrive, Mr. Cunningham
received a phone call from a friend back home with horrible news. His friend told
him that their mutual friend that had died that morning had in fact died by suicide.
Mr. Cunningham had dedicated his life to preventing such an event and was
completely gutted by this news. It took everything that he had left in him to try and
keep it together and not break down in front of his wife and daughters.
g. And then - Officer Haferman arrived.
h. Haferman marched up to Mr. Cunningham. He informed Mr. Cunningham that
someone thought they had smelled the odor of alcohol on him earlier.
i. Mr. Cunningham is former military police. He worked for Homeland Security. He
grew up and lived surrounded by friends and family all in law enforcement. As a
result, at the foundation of his soul was nothing but complete trust and respect for
all those in law enforcement and a core belief that others in his field, like him, held
values like integrity and fairness in their work most dear.
j. For this reason, Mr. Cunningham heard this allegation of alcohol odor from
Haferman and truly thought nothing of it. Without hesitation or worry, he explained
to Haferman how he had had two light beers nearly four hours ago, so if someone
had in fact smelled it, that would be the cause.
k. Throughout this encounter, Mr. Cunningham can be seen on video appearing
completely sober, unimpaired, coherent, and normal. Ignoring this presentation
and ignoring all that Mr. Cunningham had just done to save the lives of multiple
people in a horrific accident, Haferman informed Mr. Cunningham that he needed
him to do roadside tests to prove he was safe to drive.
l. Mr. Cunningham explained he was completely exhausted from all the events of
that day, both mentally and physically, and asked if he could instead just do a
breath test to prove that he was unimpaired.
m. Haferman had a portable breath test on hand and available. But he told Mr.
Cunningham no, that the PBT result “wasn’t admissible in court,” and so instead
insisted that he complete the more physical roadside tests. Mr. Cunningham
attempted to cooperate, complaining the whole time that his shoes were filled with
water and his legs felt like Jell -O.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 16 of 44
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n. Mr. Cunningham did not know any of this about Haferman. And so, despite his
catastrophic day filled with physical exertion, devastating emotional loss, and
extraordinary mental stress, Mr. Cunningham attempted to cooperate with
Haferman’s balancing tests, complaining the whole time that his shoes were filled
with water from rafting (you can hear them squishing on the video) and that his
legs felt like Jell-O.
o. Haferman again did not administer the tests in the standardized manner he was
trained and Haferman again included multiple lies in his report regarding Mr.
Cunningham’s performance on the tests that were obviously contradicted by his
BWC video.
p. It is obvious from the videos that Mr. Cunningham was both totally exhausted and
completely sober and unimpaired.
q. Haferman arrested Mr. Cunningham for DUI anyway. He also charged him with
two counts of Child Abuse due to having his daughters with him in the car. Mr.
Cunningham was horrified. He again begged Haferman to give him a breath test
on scene to prove his innocence. Haferman again refused him a breath test.
r. Haferman put Mr. Cunningham into handcuffs and told him he would need to
complete a chemical test. Mr. Cunningham again implored Haferman to let him do
a breath test.
s. Haferman told Mr. Cunningham he would have to take a blood test because he
had admitted earlier that he had a prescription for Adderall for his ADHD. Notable
here is the fact that Mr. Cunningham told Haferman that he was prescribed this
medication, but when asked when he had last taken it, he told Haferman that it had
been several days, and that he didn’t even have it with him because he had left it
at home in Nebraska as he didn’t need to take his ADHD medication while he was
on vacation.
t. Mr. Cunningham then spent the night in jail. He spent thousands of dollars hiring
legal counsel. His family, utterly traumatized, picked him up and they drove home
to Nebraska to prepare for the funeral of their close family friend.
u. Of course, Haferman was not done with Mr. Cunningham yet.
v. On Tuesday morning, while getting dressed for his friend’s funeral in Nebraska,
Child Protective Services showed up at Mr. Cunningham’s house to interview his
children. Haferman had called in a referral to Nebraska CPS to investigate Mr.
Cunningham for child abuse.
w. Weeks later, the injured motorcyclist who Mr. Cunningham had worked to save
and Mr. Cunningham were able to connect to each other. The motorcyclist (Max)
told Mr. Cunningham that it was only thanks to him and the measures he took on
scene that his leg was able to be saved rather than having to be amputated.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 17 of 44
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x. Months later, on October 20, 2021, Mr. Cunningham’s blood results finally came
back. “None detected” for alcohol and all impairing drugs.
y. The Larimer DA dismissed the charges against Mr. Cunningham.
z. Despite FCPS claiming that all negative blood test results received by their agency
were subjected to an “internal review,” the documents in Mr. Cunningham’s case
indicate that absolutely no one at FCPS, internal or otherwise, was reviewing or
claiming to review this Haferman wrongful arrest.
aa. Upon information and belief, until Haferman’s pattern of constitutional violations
was brought to the attention of the public by local and national news media in April
2022, absolutely no one at FCPS ever looked at this or any other wrongful
Haferman DUI arrest involving “none detected” blood results.
48. On August 8, 2021, Officer Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of B.C.
B.C. was another disabled veteran. Haferman came into Krazy Karl’s while on duty to pick
up food he had ordered. While there, he saw B.C. drink one beer. He decided he would
wait for B.C. to leave and arrest him for DUI. Haferman went out to his car and waited.
a. B.C. wasn’t even planning to drive. He had called his mom to pick him up.
b. As soon as his mom told him she was nearby, B.C. went to move his car to a legal
parking space to be left overnight. He drove his car about 10 feet. Haferman
immediately activated his red and blue lights and ordered B.C. out of the car.
c. Haferman later claimed in his report from this arrest that he activated his BWC
during the encounter, but the video “got lost in Evidence.com” and could not be
recovered.
d. Haferman falsely claimed in his report that numerous admissions were made by
B.C. during the periods in which he “lost” his BWC video.
e. Some of the roadside tests Haferman did with B.C. were recorded by his cover
officer’s (Young’s) BWC video. Comparing that video to Haferman’s report again
reveals multiple lies, exaggerations, and discrepancies between what actually
occurred and what Haferman put in his report. The video also, again, shows
Haferman not administering the tests to B.C. correctly.
f. For example, B.C. did the one-leg stand maneuver perfectly and for ten seconds
longer than anyone is supposed to be able to do it. Despite this, Haferman claimed
in his report that B.C. failed it.
g. While arresting B.C., B.C.’s mother arrived on scene within minutes and
corroborated the fact that she was picking B.C. up. Haferman arrested B.C. for DUI
anyway.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 18 of 44
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h. B.C. requested a breath test. His breath test results were .04 BAC which is under
the limit for both DUI and DWAI, and by Colorado law, presumed to be an
unimpairing amount of alcohol.
i. Haferman charged B.C. anyway and booked him into the jail. Then he went to write
his report in which he claimed B.C. made all kinds of admissions and exhibited all
kinds of signs of impairment indicators. He then, as mentioned previously,
conveniently, and once again, claimed that his BWC footage of the incident
mysteriously had disappeared.
j. The district attorney’s office completely dismissed the case against B.C.
k. According to FCPS’s reports and records for B.C.’s case, again, no supervising
officer ever reviewed or looked at Haferman’s wrongful arrest of B.C. (nor his
mysterious repeated loss of BWC video footage).
l. Upon information and belief, prior to the media attention on Haferman’s wrongful
arrests in April 2022, no remedial action, discipline, or any other form of verbal
counseling was ever given to Haferman by FCPS supervisory personnel regarding
the wrongful arrest of B.C. or Haferman’s (now) repetitive destruction of his BWC
videos.
49. On September 4, 2021, Officer Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of
K.S. K.S. swerved to avoid a deer in the road and hit a tree. Haferman ignored this very
normal explanation for the car leaving the road and decided to instead use it to arrest her
for DUI. He again included the false statements and exaggerations of impairment
indicators in his report for K.S. He failed to administer the roadside tests to K.S. in the
standardized manner he was trained. He lied about K.S. showing clues or signs of
impairment. There were multiple additional discrepancies between BWC videos and what
he claimed occurred in his report.
a. On December 15, 2021, Haferman received K.S.’s blood results. They were
negative for alcohol and all drugs.
b. It appears from the reports in K.S.’s case that by this time, Haferman continued to
have no supervising or approving officer reviewing his work.
c. Despite FCPS claiming that all negative blood test results received by their agency
were subjected to an “internal review,” the documents in K.S.’s case indicate that
absolutely no one at FCPS, internal or otherwise, was reviewing this Haferman
wrongful arrest of K.S., or any other Haferman wrongful arrest.
d. Upon receipt of the blood results, the district attorney promptly dismissed the DUI
charge against K.S.
e. Upon information and belief, until Haferman’s pattern of constitutional violations
was brought to the attention of the public by local and national news media in April
2022, absolutely no one at FCPS ever looked at this or any other wrongful
Haferman DUI arrest involving “none detected” blood results.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 19 of 44
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f. Upon information and belief, prior to the media attention on Haferman’s wrongful
arrests in April 2022, no remedial action, discipline, or any other form of verbal
counseling was ever given to Haferman by FCPS supervisory personnel regarding
the wrongful arrest of K.S.
50. On October 8, 2021, Officer Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of D.A.
He again included the same false statements and exaggerations of impairment indicators
in his report for D.A. He failed to administer the roadside tests to D.A. in the standardized
manner he was trained. There were multiple discrepancies between his BWC videos and
what he claimed occurred in his report.
a. After getting his blood, Haferman booked D.A. into the jail. Upon D.A.’s release,
he was subjected to mandatory bond conditions which required him to submit to
sobriety monitoring and drug/alcohol testing for over 3 months.
b. On January 10, 2022, Haferman received D.A.’s blood results which showed a
result of .036% BAC, well under the limit for DUI or DWAI, and, by Colorado law,
presumed to be unimpairing.
c. It appears from the reports in D.A.’s case that by this time, Haferman continued to
have no supervising or approving officer reviewing his work.
d. Another officer who was on scene (Kevin Alexander) to witness Haferman
administer roadsides to D.A., aware of Haferman’s failure to administer them
correctly and propensity for reporting impairment indicators in sober people that
would later be absent from any BWC video, actually went out of his way to state in
his own report that while on scene with Haferman he did not at any time “take note
of [D.A.]’s performance” on the roadsides. Officer Alexander did not corroborate
any of the claimed impairment indicators that Haferman alleged in his report.
e. Upon receiving D.A.’s blood results, the Larimer County district attorney once
again promptly dismissed the wrongful DUI arrest Haferman had filed against D.A.
f. No remedial action, discipline, or any other form of verbal counseling was given to
Haferman by FCPS supervisory personnel regarding the wrongful arrest of D.A.
51. Again on October 8, 2021 (yes, he had two in one day), Haferman made his next wrongful
DUI arrest, this time of G.E. G.E. was visiting Colorado from Idaho and driving a rental
car. Haferman pulled him over for the headlights not being fully activated. He learned as
soon as he pulled him over that this was because it was a rental car that G.E. was not
familiar with. Undeterred, Haferman ordered G.E. out of the car to perform roadside tests.
a. He again included the false statements and exaggerations of impairment indicators
in his report for G.E. He failed to administer the roadside tests to G.E. in the
standardized manner he was trained. He lied about G.E. showing clues/signs of
impairment that were not present. There were multiple additional discrepancies
between BWC videos and what he claimed occurred in his report.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 20 of 44
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b. Despite performing the HGN test on G.E. incorrectly, it was still obvious from
Haferman’s BWC that G.E. had zero clues on the HGN. Haferman lied and claimed
G.E. had all 6 clues of impairment on the HGN test in his report.
c. Haferman then arrested G.E. for DUI and took him to the jail for a breath test. G.E.
blew a .016% on the breath test, which is scored as a “none detected” result on
the machine due to its range of error. G.E. was, thus, provably observed to be
innocent to Haferman that very night.
d. So did Haferman apologize and let G.E. go? Of course not. He charged him with
DWAI and booked him into the jail.
e. It appears from the reports in G.E.’s case that Haferman continued to no longer
have any supervising or approving officer pretending to review his arrests.
f. Because of the lies and exaggerations Haferman included in his report about G.E.,
it still took more than two months for the District Attorney to dismiss the DWAI
charge he had filed against him.
g. Upon information and belief, until Haferman’s pattern of constitutional violations
was brought to the attention of the local and national news media in April 2022,
absolutely no one at FCPS ever looked at this or any other wrongful Haferman DUI
arrest involving negative chemical test results.
52. On November 19, 2021, Officer Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of
S.J. He again included the false statements and exaggerations of impairment indicators
in his report for S.J. He failed to administer the roadside tests to S.J. in the standardized
manner he was trained. He lied about S.J. showing clues or signs of impairment when
there were none. There were multiple additional discrepancies between BWC videos and
what he claimed occurred in his report.
a. S.J. denied alcohol consumption and blew triple zeroes into a PBT on scene
showing negative for alcohol. Haferman arrested her for DUI and forced a blood
draw anyway.
b. On February 23, 2022, Haferman received S.J.’s blood results. They were negative
for alcohol and all drugs.
c. It appears from the reports in S.J.’s case that by this time, Haferman continued to
have no supervising or approving officer reviewing his work.
d. Despite FCPS claiming that all negative blood test results received by their agency
were subjected to an “internal review,” the documents in S.J.’s case indicate that
absolutely no one at FCPS, internal or otherwise, was reviewing this Haferman
wrongful arrest of S.J. or any other Haferman wrongful arrest.
e. Upon receipt of the blood results, the district attorney promptly dismissed the DUI
charge against S.J.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 21 of 44
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f. Until Haferman’s pattern of constitutional violations was brought to the attention of
the local and national news media in April 2022, absolutely no remedial action,
discipline, or any other form of verbal counseling was ever given to Haferman by
FCPS supervisory personnel regarding the wrongful arrest of S.J.
53. On December 3, 2021, Officer Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of
Plaintiff Harris Elias. Mr. Elias is also suing the Defendants in this case. The facts of his
case are set forth in the case of Elias v. City of Fort Collins, et al., Larimer County District
Court case number 2023CV30350.
a. Mr. Elias was observably unimpaired and clearly sober.
b. Because Mr. Elias refused to do roadsides or be interrogated by Haferman,
however, Haferman arrested him for DUI and Child Abuse.
c. Haferman also slammed Mr. Elias’s knee into the jamb of his patrol car door,
requiring medical treatment.
d. On March 4, 2022, after having tested Mr. Elias’s blood for every drug under the
sun and found nothing, CBI sent Mr. Elias’s official blood test results to Haferman
and FCPS, indicating that nothing at all was detected.
e. The DA’s office dismissed all the charges against Mr. Elias.
f. Still, no one at FCPS did anything to stop Haferman. No one at FCPS cared. And
so Haferman carried on.
54. On December 19, 2021, Haferman made yet another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of L.M.
Haferman claimed that L.M. stopped at an intersection for longer than he thought should
be normal. He also claimed she failed to signal when turning. He did not record any of
these claimed driving behaviors. He ordered L.M. out of her car and began his DUI fishing
expedition. It did not go well. L.M. appeared normal and unimpaired. She told him that
she had had 2 glasses of wine hours earlier and was now completely sober. He arrested
her anyway.
a. L.M. requested a breath test. Her breath test results were under the limit for both
DUI and DWAI, and by Colorado law, presumed to not be impairing.
b. Haferman arrested and charged L.M. anyway and booked her into the jail. Then
he went to write his report in which he claimed L.M. made all kinds of admissions
and exhibited all kinds of signs of impairment indicators during the roadsides. He
then, conveniently, and once again, claimed that most of these indicators would
not be observable on his BWC footage because the audio had yet again
mysteriously “malfunctioned.”
c. The district attorney’s office dismissed the DUI charge against L.M.
d. According to FCPS’s reports and records for L.M.’s case, again, no supervising
officer ever reviewed or looked at Haferman’s wrongful arrest of L.M. (nor his
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 22 of 44
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mysterious repeated propensity for lost, damaged, or malfunctioning BWC
footage).
e. No remedial action, discipline, or any other form of verbal counseling was ever
given to Haferman by FCPS supervisory personnel regarding the wrongful arrest
of L.M. or Haferman’s repetitive tampering/destroying of his BWC content.
55. On March 26, 2022, Officer Haferman made another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of
Carly Zimmerman. Haferman stopped Ms. Zimmerman because he felt she went too
quickly past him while he was on another traffic stop. She had been crying for three hours
and told him so. He ignored this and instead pressed her to admit to drinking alcohol. She
told him she had not. He arrested her for DUI and demanded a chemical test. She agreed
to a blood test. Haferman then inexplicably muted his BWC for the rest of the encounter
with Ms. Zimmerman.
a. Haferman likely realized it was extremely probable that Ms. Zimmerman’s blood
would reveal that he had made another wrongful DUI arrest. He elected to remedy
this problem by muting his BWC and then later falsely claiming under oath that Ms.
Zimmerman had during the 30 minutes spent at the hospital refused to complete
the blood test.
b. Police practices experts later reviewed the BWC from Haferman’s arrest of Ms.
Zimmerman (see infra) and voiced shock and condemnation that he had arrested
someone who presented as she did, with zero indications of drug or alcohol
impairment whatsoever.
c. Haferman falsely claimed in his report for Ms. Zimmerman’s arrest that she was
slurring her speech. The portion of the BWC that did have audio (the first 17
minutes) revealed this to be a categorical lie.
d. Haferman falsely claimed in his report for Ms. Zimmerman’s arrest that she failed
various roadside maneuvers. The BWC revealed this to also be a categorical lie.
e. The DA’s office later dismissed the criminal case against Ms. Zimmerman.
56. Thus, prior to encountering Plaintiff Mr. Groves in April 2021, Haferman had personally
effected at least 17 wrongful DUI arrests of innocent people in less than a year
without intervention, comment, or reprimand from anyone at FCPS.
57. Upon information and belief, the only feedback Haferman had received from FCPS
supervisory personnel (including Sergeant Heaton and Corporal Redacted) about his DUI
arrests by this time was positive and blind reinforcement to continue whatever he was
doing, as it was producing DUI arrest statistics that FCPS benefitted from greatly in the
eyes of the public when posted about on social media, seeking additional agency funding,
and when shared with MADD.
58. Upon information and belief, no one at FCPS knew about the inordinately high number of
innocent people Haferman was arresting because no one was supervising him or
reviewing his work. In the alternative, if anyone at FCPS was aware of all the innocent
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 23 of 44
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people Haferman was arresting, they simply didn’t care and so did nothing to try and
prevent Haferman from doing it again.
59. It was therefore by April 2022 not just reasonably foreseeable from Haferman’s pattern of
misconduct but in fact utterly inevitable that he would violate the constitutional rights of
more citizens in the very near future with more wrongful DUI arrests.
HAFERMAN’S WRONGFUL ARREST OF PLAINTIFF DERRICK GROVES
60. And indeed, he did. On April 7, 2022, just a few weeks after he and FCPS had received
Harris Elias’s “none detected” blood results, and over a month after a Larimer County
judge had found Haferman to be literally not credible as a witness in court, Officer
Haferman – clearly unencumbered by worry of any consequence to him for his now very
regular misconduct – made yet another wrongful DUI arrest, this time of Plaintiff Derrick
Groves.
61. Mr. Groves had been driving from a friend’s house to his girlfriend’s. He was driving a
Tesla Model Y that had beta Autosteer. This is a Tesla product that essentially controlled
steering for the driver.
62. Mr. Groves’s phone rang and he picked it up to look at who was calling. As he did so, the
Autosteer overcorrected and sent Mr. Groves’s Tesla over an embankment.
63. The damage was not catastrophic but Mr. Gr oves nevertheless ensured police were
called and stayed on scene to cooperate with their investigation and writing a report.
64. FCPS officers arrived. One of them was Officer Haferman.
65. Haferman began questioning Mr. Groves. He learned that Mr. Groves was currently on
probation. Haferman decided this was sufficient basis to make Mr. Groves his next victim.
66. Haferman asked Mr. Groves to complete roadside tests to prove his sobriety. Mr. Groves
knew he was unimpaired and so was happy to do so. He reminded Haferman that he had
just been in an accident and was a bit banged up, and so warned him that he was probably
not going to be great at walking a line.
67. Haferman administered the HGN test to Mr. Groves and administered it, as usual,
incorrectly. Haferman recorded “clues” of impairment in Mr. Grove’s eyes that were not
present and also claimed impairment indicators like “pupils of different sizes” which were
not even clues of impairment he had training or knowledge to opine on.
68. Throughout this encounter, Mr. Groves’s walk was normal and without indication of
impairment, Mr. Groves’s speech was normal and without indication of impairment, and
Mr. Groves’s standing was normal and without indication of impairment.
69. Haferman and his FCPS cover officers then set out to interviewing the bystanders on
scene to see if they could help give him something to use to justify his inevitable arrest of
Mr. Groves for thus far nonexistent impairment. They had no luck there. Both witnesses
on scene told the officers that Groves seemed fine to them, had no odor of alcohol, and
had not during their extended time with him acted strangely or intoxicated.
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70. Haferman was undeterred. He went back to Mr. Groves and interrogated him more,
desperate for some kind of admission.
71. It should be noted that Haferman never – at any time during his encounter or arrest of Mr.
Groves – advised Mr. Groves of his Miranda rights.
72. Mr. Groves had a medical card for medical marijuana use. He informed Haferman of this
but made very clear that despite the card, he still had not used marijuana for several days.
He affirmed, confirmed, and reaffirmed – repeatedly – to Haferman that he had not
consumed any alcohol, any drugs, or any marijuana anytime recently and was very, very
sober.
73. In fact, no less than 6 times, Mr. Groves told Officer Haferman in very clear terms that he
had nothing whatsoever in his system.
74. The BWC videos showing Mr. Groves throughout this encounter with Haferman
corroborate what Mr. Groves was saying about his sobriety to have been plainly true.
75. Obvious driver innocence hadn’t stopped Haferman before, and it certainly wasn’t going
to stop Haferman today. He arrested Mr. Groves for DUI and put him in cuffs.
76. Haferman told Mr. Groves that because he suspected him of “being on drugs,” he would
have to submit to a blood test. Mr. Groves complied with the blood test.
77. On the way to the hospital, at the hospital, on the way to the jail from the hospital, Mr.
Groves told Officer Haferman again and again: “You’re wrong. You’re just wrong.”
Haferman ignored him.
78. Haferman took Mr. Groves to jail.
79. Haferman then set to giving Mr. Groves the full Haferman-wrongful-DUI-arrest treatment
in his arrest report. Haferman alleged Mr. Groves had “bloodshot, glassy eyes, and his
pupils appeared to be different sizes,” none of which was true. He claimed that Groves’s
eyes “did not complete [the] HGN test as a sober person,” which was not true. Haferman
also, as per usual, again administered the HGN incorrectly.
80. Haferman omitted from his report all of Mr. Groves’s comments regarding his innocence
and all of the evidence related to his speech, balance, movements, walking, and
comprehension that universally indicated he was sober and unimpaired.
81. Mr. Groves spent the night in jail. He wasn’t just sober – he was now devastated, terrified,
and in shock. He was not released until the following evening.
82. Mr. Groves life was completely upended and devastated by Haferman’s wrongful arrest.
83. Haferman reported the new criminal case to the Larimer County Probation Office.
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84. Probation also increased the frequency of Mr. Groves’s monitored sobriety testing in
response to Haferman’s allegation of him having committed DUI.
85. Mr. Groves, waiting for months upon months for the blood results that would vindicate
him, grew despondent. He began having panic attacks whenever he saw law enforcement
or even when he was merely anticipating running into members of law enforcement.
86. He lost work and was passed over for a job opportunity he had been interviewing for at
the time of his arrest. He struggled to concentrate.
87. Mr. Groves had to turn to family for help hiring a defense attorney. But he struggled to
convince his family to believe that he had been falsely accused. The fact of Mr. Groves’s
previous case made him uniquely vulnerable to this type of relational destruction from
such a false allegation. As a result, Mr. Groves was forced to witness the people he loved
most, and relied upon most for support, including his own father, hesitate to believe him.
This was utterly devastating to Mr. Groves.
88. Mr. Groves sought therapy to deal with the depression and all-consuming sense of loss
that accumulated during this period. He could not afford anyone. He fell into a dark hole
of isolation and hopelessness.
89. The false charges brought by Haferman also impacted Mr. Groves’s relationship with his
girlfriend. She was on scene and watched him be arrested. Worse, as he arrested Mr.
Groves, Haferman paraded him in front of his girlfriend deliberately and told her, “He’s
under arrest. He’s under arrest for Driving Under the Influence. He will be going to jail.”
Mr. Groves’s girlfriend was visibly horrified and began sobbing. Mr. Groves was utterly
humiliated.
90. Also while being arrested, Mr. Groves begged his girlfriend to believe that he was innocent
as Haferman put him in handcuffs. His girlfriend continued sobbing, unsure of what to
believe, and in a state of total shock. Mr. Groves implored her repeatedly to please believe
that he was innocent. This scene as captured on the officers’ BWC is heart-wrenching to
watch.
91. Mr. Groves then also had to ask his girlfriend to pick him up from the jail the following
night.
92. Living with this case and the possibility of his probation also being revoked due to the
false charges was the lowest, sickest feeling Mr. Groves had ever felt in his life.
93. Mr. Groves had to pay attorneys fees to hire counsel in two cases as a result of this
wrongful arrest. He missed work and job opportunities due to the stress from the baseless
charges. He lost sleep worrying that Haferman would find a way to tamper with or alter
his blood test results. Mr. Groves knew that if Haferman succeeded in doing so, that would
be the end of everything that he cared about.
94. Finally, on May 26, 2022, the blood results came back from CBI: Nothing detected. No
alcohol, no drugs, no marijuana – no nothing.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 26 of 44
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95. The DA’s office eventually the DUI case against Mr. Groves.
96. Haferman was utterly unaffected by his receipt of proof that Mr. Groves was innocent.
This is because he already knew Mr. Groves was innocent when he arrested him. No one
at FCPS had ever cared about his wrongful DUI arrests before and so he naturally
presumed no one at FCPS would care about this one either.
97. Thus, that very same day (5-26-22), Haferman’s understanding of his own impunity at
FCPS was observed reaching extraordinary heights.
98. Hours after seeing Mr. Groves’s blood test results, Haferman testified at the DOR (DMV)
hearing regarding the revocation of Ms. Zimmerman’s license. The hearing was to
determine whether she had refused a blood test that Haferman had destroyed the video
evidence of.
a. At this hearing, Haferman boldly testified that he was not going to answer
questions about Ms. Zimmerman’s performance on the roadside tests because he
couldn’t remember it and he didn’t believe he had to.
b. Throughout the DOR hearing, Haferman can be heard literally making his own
objections, as the testifying witness, to defense counsel’s questions about the
roadsides.
c. Eventually the DOR hearing officer had to instruct Haferman to stop making
objections and instead respond to the very relevant questions being asked. Rather
than comply, Haferman got confrontational with the hearing officer and demanded
that he (yes, the DOR hearing officer presiding over the hearing) supply him with
legal authority for why he should have to testify about the specifics of the roadside
maneuvers.
d. Haferman then threatened the hearing officer that if he forced him to answer
questions about the specific roadside tests, then he would be setting some kind of
unlawful precedent going forward.
e. At this same DOR hearing, Haferman initially testified under oath that the Larimer
County District Court Judge did not make findings about his credibility in the Padilla
case. When confronted with the transcript showing this had in fact occurred, he
then proceeded to declare her finding incorrect, stating that he above all others
knew what was true due to his “training and experience.”
THE ACCESSIBLE DATA IS INCOMPLETE
99. In 2021, FCPS (as an entire agency) made 504 DUI arrests. Officer Haferman was
involved in 191, or nearly 40%, of them. Notably, FCPS has not released the number of
DUI arrest cases where Haferman was the officer that made the arrest decision.
100. Upon information and belief, there are more innocent citizens who have been arrested
and wrongfully charged with DUI/DWAI by Officer Haferman. Plaintiff simply cannot
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 27 of 44
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access records to identify those individuals and detail their wrongful arrests here due to
Colorado’s sealing laws.
a. Under Colorado law (until 2022), if a defendant’s criminal case was dismissed, the
defendant could file a petition to seal the case which then causes all records
related to it to be destroyed.
b. As a result, when people are wrongfully charged with DUI and their blood results
come back showing they were so wrongfully charged and the DA’s office dismisses
the case, the vast majority of those people then (desperate to try and reduce the
damage inflicted upon their lives by the wrongful arrest) file petitions to seal which
results in the destruction of those records at FCPS.
c. The only wrongful arrest records accessible to Plaintiff’s counsel through CORA
requests, then, are those individuals whose cases were dismissed and who also
did not know that they could seal their case. This is necessarily a small number of
people because Larimer County judges as a matter of policy expressly advise
defendants whose cases are dismissed that they can seal.
d. Making the identification of other wrongful DUI arrest victims even more difficult,
Colorado’s sealings law recently changed, and effective January 1, 2022,
dismissed criminal cases are now automatically sealed.
e. It is now nearly impossible to obtain through open records requests any of the
records related to wrongful arrests. The only remaining avenue to access such
materials is through the civil discovery process after filing a civil lawsuit.
101. Even under these difficult-information-gathering conditions, however, Haferman’s
wrongful DUI arrest activity became sufficiently alarming for the local press to begin asking
questions in April 2022 – notably, critically, and quite provably, well before any supervisors
at FCPS ever began asking any questions.
MEDIA COVERAGE PROMPTS FCPS TO LIE, SCRAMBLE,
AND GAS-LIGHT THE PUBLIC
102. On April 8, 2022, Fox 31 Denver (KDVR) Investigative Reporter Rob Low received a
tip about Haferman and began investigating Haferman’s pattern of wrongful DUI arrests,
starting with that of Mr. Elias. On that day (April 8), Mr. Low sent a records request to
FCPS requesting the videos and reports from Mr. Elias’s arrest.
103. FCPS’s records custodian took 3 weeks to do it, but eventually, FCPS provided
reporter Mr. Low with the Elias videos. Business at FCPS and with Haferman’s DUI arrest
work continued as usual.
104. Months later, when public pressure forced FCPS to terminate Haferman, FCPS made
repetitive assertions to the press and in their own reports that they had spontaneously
opened an internal investigation into Haferman of their own initiative on April 13 and, they
doth protested quite too much, “not in response” to any media inquiries.
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105. However, there exist no records corroborating this fanciful claim beyond FCPS’s own
self-serving statements that this is the date they began their self-initiated internal
investigation.
106. Notably, if FCPS had opened an internal affairs investigation into Haferman on April
13, it certainly didn’t involve telling Haferman about it, and it certainly didn’t involve telling
Haferman to change anything he was doing.
107. Because on April 15, 2022, Haferman was still working as DUI Officer for FCPS and
that very day himself made two more DUI arrests. During one of the arrests, he mentioned
to the arrestee that his 2-year-term as DUI Officer was ending soon and he’d be rotating
back to patrol. Haferman during this conversation gave no impression whatsoever that he
was under investigation for anything or that would otherwise suggest he was being forced
to rotate out of the role (and, the end of April 2022 would have in fact marked Haferman
having served the full 2 years of every FCPS DUI Officer’s 2-year term, as scheduled).
108. And whatever claimed “internal investigation” FCPS was doing also didn’t affect
Haferman on May 14, 2022, when he again wrongfully arrested someone for DUI, this
time 75-year-old Chuck Matta, despite no indications of impairment. After being put into
handcuffs and taken to jail, Mr. Matta requested (repeatedly) that he be allowed to do a
breath test. Haferman finally relented at the station, where Mr. Matta blew triple zeroes.
109. The day that FCPS finally released Mr. Elias’s videos to reporter Low, on April 29,
2022, they also apparently sent Defendant Sergeant Heaton a heads up about it, probably
because he was the supervising sergeant involved on scene and also had elected not to
create a BWC video of his involvement (or the formal complaints made to him by Mr. Elias)
in violation of Colorado law and FCPS policy.
110. Defendant Heaton decided it might be a good time to watch what was recorded in the
other officers’ BWC videos regarding his involvement. He knew he (deliberately) hadn’t
recorded anything of Mr. Elias’s case himself but worried if the other officers present there
with him had made sure to at least mute their mics to ensure his comments and approval
of Haferman’s actions weren’t recorded. So, for the first time, on April 29, 2022, Sergeant
Heaton watched Haferman’s video from the Elias arrest.
a. This entire sequence of events (a citizen witnessing police officer misconduct,
requesting their supervising sergeant to make a complaint, the sergeant
responding and “taking the complaint” and then eradicating evidence, video or
otherwise, of said complaint) is eerily and grotesquely similar to that of (now
former) Sergeant Metzler’s infamous conduct in the case of Karen Garner v. City
of Loveland, et al. When Metzler’s misconduct was exposed to the public by Ms.
Garner’s counsel, Metzler lost his job for it.
b. FCPS is aware of Sergeant Heaton doing that here (indeed they did an extensive
internal investigation into Mr. Elias’s case which included multiple supervisors
reviewing all the videos) and FCPS did nothing.
111. Throughout the month of May 2022, KDVR reporter Rob Low continued requesting
records and asking questions about the Harris Elias arrest. In response, FCPS’s public
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relations officer would promise answers and then after 7-10 days, would supply responses
to only some of the questions reporter Low had asked.
112. Reporter Low told FCPS he was going to run a story on the Elias arrest and asked if
Chief Swoboda wanted to be interviewed or provide any comment. Chief Swoboda
enthusiastically agreed to an on-camera interview on May 25. In that interview, he
defended Haferman’s arrest decision and made knowingly defamatory statements
towards Mr. Elias, like: “It’s concerning that later it came back that he [Elias] didn’t
consume any, but that doesn’t mean the officer didn’t smell alcohol inside the car or on
his breath or on his person.”
113. FCPS Chief Swoboda also claimed that FCPS had initiated their own internal review
of the Elias arrest specifically “before” his interview on May 25 because they “always” do
that in a case with “none detected” blood results.
114. Yet the audit trail for Haferman’s BWC video of the Elias video reveals that Kim
Cochran, the Professional Standards Unit (PSU) officer at FCPS who would have done
such a review, did not look at Haferman’s Elias arrest video for the first time until 4 days
later, on May 29, 2022.
115. While investigating and asking questions for his story on Mr. Elias’s wrongful arrest,
reporter Rob Low began to see that this was not a one-off type of wrongful arrest, but that
Officer Haferman instead appeared to have a pattern of making many wrongful DUI
arrests of citizens. There were many more victims. He and other news outlets began
digging in, demanding answers, explanations, and accountability from FCPS.
116. In response to this additional media scrutiny, FCPS PR Manager Kimble again
reiterated to Rob Low of KDVR in a June 14, 2022 email that “FCPS reviews all cases
where DUI blood tests come back with no drugs detected.”
117. On June 16, 2022, Fox 31 Denver ran its first piece about Haferman pattern of
wrongful DUI arrests. It gave FCPS Chief Swoboda opportunity to be interviewed and
comment on the story before it was published and this time, he refused to be interviewed.
118. Instead, knowing this story was coming out, Chief Swoboda worked to get ahead of it,
releasing the day before, on June 15, 2022, a statement to the public through a video post
on FCPS’s Facebook page.
119. In this statement, Swoboda defended Haferman’s conduct, insulted and defamed the
victims of Haferman’s wrongful arrests, and made multiple other false claims suggesting
that FCPS had always been reviewing Haferman’s arrests and ensuring they were lawful.
He also went even further than that, stating:
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120. By FCPS’s Chief’s own admission, then, either multiple FCPS supervisors were
reviewing Haferman’s ND cases and approving of it and finding no training issues and
finding no discrepancies between his reports and his videos and finding no problem with
his repeated destruction of video evidence by failing to activate it or muting it during some
of his most questionable arrests…. Or, he was simply lying about there having been any
supervisory review of any of Haferman’s wrongful arrests. The latter possibility is better
corroborated by the evidence and logically considerably more likely, but regardless, either
option establishes Monell liability against Defendant FCPS.
121. FCPS Chief Swoboda, in the same public statements, also went even further to defend
Haferman’s wrongful arrests – claiming that Haferman always had probable cause to
arrest the individuals and that if nothing impairing was found in their blood, that was simply
the result of limitations on what drugs CBI could test for.
a. For example, Swoboda wrote on FCPS’s Facebook page in the 6/15/22 statement:
b. This paragraph openly insinuates that “nothing detected” blood test results for
individuals charged with DUI by officer Haferman proves not that these people are
innocent, but instead that Officer Haferman was so special and so highly trained
that he was able to detect in them impairment from obscure and unknown types of
street drugs for which science hasn’t yet even figured out how to test.
c. Not one single “none detected” wrongful DUI arrest made by Officer Haferman up
to that point ever included any allegation, insinuation, or shred of evidence
supporting the idea that the individuals were impaired by a synthetic street drug or
impairing aerosol inhalant.
d. FCPS Chief Swoboda’s allegation that the innocent people wrongfully arrested by
Haferman like Plaintiff Mr. Groves, who had been previously vindicated through
their blood tests, were not innocent but instead just on drugs that CBI could not
test for was defamatory and served to compound their damages. Chief Swoboda
making these comments both online, in print, and in in-person interviews with the
media caused Mr. Groves more suffering, trauma, and emotional distress.
122. FCPS Chief Swoboda’s claims to the public about FCPS’s drug testing capabilities
were also knowingly untrue at the time they were made. Here’s the rest of the statement
he made about FCPS’s drug testing capabilities:
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123. Also provably untrue from Chief Swoboda’s public statements:
a. CBI is not limited to a “standard ELISA panel to test for 14 categories of drugs.” In
fact, CBI can test for every kind of drug for which a test exists.
b. For example, in Harley Padilla’s case, FCPS asked CBI to test for a whole slew of
additional prescription medications outside of the standard ELISA 14-drug panel,
and CBI did so.
c. This “specialized testing” was done at CBI, not CSU, and this “specialized testing”
did not cost FCPS anything additional to have completed.
d. Similarly, in Harris Elias’s case, FCPS asked CBI to test for apparently every single
drug or medication that can be tested for on earth:
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124. Swoboda made his false claim that FCPS could only test for the 14-panel of drugs
provided in an ELISA panel on June 15, 2022. Harris Elias’s blood test result showing that
FCPS can, could, and did test for every other type of drug under the sun was provided to
FCPS on March 4, 2022, and was part of the Elias arrest records in FCPS’s possession.
125. Swoboda also falsely claimed in his public statement on behalf of FCPS that CBI could
not or would not test blood for synthetic street drugs. This was categorically untrue. From
CBI Toxicology’s own website:
126. Swoboda’s claim that CBI could or would not test blood for “aerosol inhalants” was
also a provable lie. CBI states clearly on their website that they test for commonly abused
inhalants:
127. CBI’s website also confirms that they do “specialized testing” for law enforcement in
DUI/DUID cases upon request, at no cost, for all the synthetic street drugs that the
standard ELISA panel does not detect. The list of drugs that CBI can test for law
enforcement in DUI cases upon request, for free, is so long that it would not be productive
to copy and paste here, however it is worth pointing out that this list of hundreds of types
of drugs5 includes:
1. All synthetic fentanyl drugs; and
2. All synthetic bath salt type of drugs.
5 The list is currently viewable (as of March 28, 2023) online at:
https://cbi.colorado.gov/sections/forensic-services/toxicology-services/toxicology-testing
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b. In other words, if law enforcement suspects there is some other type of drug on
board not likely to be detected in a standard 14-panel ELISA screen, they are
expressly informed by CBI that specialty testing can be done to detect any other
drug that science has been developed to test for, including synthetic street drugs,
upon request and free of charge.
128. This information is also provided directly to individual law enforcement officers in CBI’s
toxicology testing form. This document is part of every blood testing kit and is filled out by
the officers themselves in every single DUI blood test case.
a. Swoboda’s claim that only CSU could conduct such specialized testing was
therefore knowingly false when uttered.
b. Swoboda’s claim that such testing was expensive and only could be pursued in
“serious cases like vehicular assault and vehicular homicide” was therefore also
knowingly false when uttered.
129. Chief Swoboda made these knowingly false claims in order to ratify and defend
Haferman’s constitutional violations, and at the time he made such false statements to
the public and press, he knew or reasonably should have known that spreading such lies
would cause Plaintiffs like Mr. Groves further harm, suffering, and distress.
130. All CBI drug testing is free. Swoboda’s claim in his June 2022 public statements that
in order to do “specialized testing” for other drugs outside the ELISA panel, it would have
cost FCPS “more than a quarter of a million dollars in testing fees” for its past year of 504
DUI arrests was also knowingly and provably false when uttered. CBI states on their
website and on the drug test request forms in every blood kit that it has been completing
specialized drug testing for law enforcement in DUI/DUID cases for free since July 2019:
131. Swoboda made these false claims in the same public statement that accused the
innocent people who had come forward about their wrongful DUI arrests at the hands of
Haferman of doing a “quick hit news story” that was misleading and he urged everyone to
“not fall for the salacious headlines.” In fact, it was only Chief Swoboda who undertook to
deliberately report to the public misleading and false facts.
132. In a video address to the public accompanying this public statement on June 15, 2022,
Chief Swoboda made this statement:
“In some of these [DUI] blood tests, they are coming back that no drugs were
detected. We look at each and every one of these cases to make sure that we
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are out there operating appropriately. Is there training issues? Is there
equipment issues? What’s happening? So please, don’t fall for the salacious
headlines. Don’t think that when those reports come back or you see that in
the media, that somehow it means it was bad policing. Our officers are
routinely interacting with people that are on drugs or misusing drugs that don’t
show up in those panels. Things like inhalants, having people huffing and then
driving a vehicle. Those don’t show up in those panels. We also don’t have
over the counter drugs that show up. Or some prescription drugs that show
up. And lastly and most importantly, synthetic drugs. That’s a market that is
changing daily and the testing isn’t keeping up. So I just wanted all of you to
know that when you see reports about zero drugs coming back in someone’s
blood after arrest, please ask questions if you have them but don’t make the
leap that it’s somehow bad policing.”
133. Chief Swoboda knowingly lied in his video statement to the public. CBI does test for
the inhalants used in huffing. It does this testing upon request in DUI/DUID cases and for
free. FCPS was not “looking at each and every one of th[o]se cases to make sure that
[they] are out there operating appropriately.” Swoboda made the above statement despite
knowing that he and FCPS had literally zero evidence or support for the idea that the
“none detected” blood test DUI cases involved drugs that CBI was unwilling to test for,
that were too expensive to test for, or that forensic science was not yet capable of testing
for.
134. It should also be noted that if any FCPS officer or supervisor believed that a “none
detected” blood test result was due to other impairing drugs not checked in the 14-panel
screen (rather than being due to the person’s actual innocence), the blood could be
retested or subjected to specialized testing for any and all other drugs at any time
for a year or more after the date of the arrest. This is because CBI by rule maintains
the blood samples from DUI arrests for at least one year and longer if needed or
requested.
a. At the time that Chief Swoboda made these deliberately false and misleading
statements to the public claiming that all “none detected” blood test cases were
due to drug testing limitations and not driver innocence, nearly all of those
drivers’ blood samples were thus still in refrigeration at CBI, perfectly
preserved, and available for any manner of free specialized drug testing.
b. At the time Chief Swoboda made these knowingly false and misleading statements
to the public about drug testing limitations, Plaintiff Mr. Groves’s blood vials were
in fact in the state’s possession, 100% available for FCPS to request any
additional, free, more specialized drug testing on.
c. But rather than request any such testing, Chief Swoboda elected to lie to the public
about nonexistent drug testing limitations and nonexistent drug testing costs
instead.
135. Further cementing Plaintiff’s failure to supervise Monell claims, in the internal affairs
investigation FCPS eventually did open into him, Haferman openly admitted that no one
was supervising him at FCPS for the entirety of his tenure there.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 35 of 44
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a. For example: it is FCPS written policy that all arrest reports including all important
information needed to be completed by officers by the end of their shifts.
i. Haferman did not comply with this written policy. He was completing his
reports sometimes days or even weeks later.
ii. When interviewed by FCPS’s “Professional Standards Unit” (PSU) for the
internal affairs investigation into his wrongful DUI arrests, Haferman was
questioned about his failure to comply with this written policy. Haferman
told investigator Kim Cochran that reports did not need to be completed by
end of shift at FCPS and in fact in his “entire career at FCPS,” it was “never
mentioned by any supervisor that he needed to complete reports by the end
of shift.” He went on and on about this written policy not being actual policy
followed by anyone at FCPS and he informed Cochran that he “has never
had a supervisor speak to him about getting reports done in a timely
manner.”
b. Also throughout this interview with his own employer, Haferman would repeatedly
claim that he had a great memory while in nearly the same breath refusing to
acknowledge certain basic facts of his cases by claiming he could “not recall.” He
bragged that over the past two years as DUI Officer he took no notes during
roadsides or any other part of the investigation and instead “most everything was
done by memory.” He stated this as a point of pride, reminding the investigator
Cochran that no supervisor of his at FCPS had ever found any problem with that.
c. Haferman was questioned by investigator Cochran about his failure to activate his
BWC and whether there had been prior instances of him doing so. To her face,
Haferman lied and said he could recall no prior instances of him having to
document that he had muted his camera or forgot to turn on his camera (in fact
there were more than 6 such instances in just the previous year).
d. For all the instances in which Haferman quite confidently informed the FCPS
investigator that he had never received any kind of supervisory direction
suggesting he needed to do things differently, and conveniently, only for those
instances, FCPS investigator Cochran found Haferman’s statements to be “highly
unlikely and inaccurate.” For everything else, she presumed that Haferman was
merely mistaken and not “intentionally lying.”
e. Investigator Cochran then acknowledged just a few paragraphs later in her 68-
page report on Haferman that there were “issues with Haferman’s ability to give
accurate testimony.”
136. In the separate report produced as a result of the investigation into Haferman’s
conduct and testimony in Ms. Zimmerman’s DOR hearing, the FCPS investigator (really
having no choice at this point) had to make the finding that Haferman’s arrest report did
include false statements that were belied by his own videos. She reluctantly
acknowledged that Haferman appeared to have “a disregard for accurate reporting and
poor attention to detail.”
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 36 of 44
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137. These are catastrophically dangerous traits for any police officer to have and both
realities of which any supervising officer at FCPS would have discovered to be true about
Haferman if they had been supervising anything he was doing starting in November 2020.
138. An officer who has “a disregard for accurate reporting and poor attention to detail” is
almost certain to also be an officer who makes wrongful arrests of innocent people.
Particularly if that officer is given a job exclusively focused on making arrests for only one
type of crime (DUI) where that one type of crime (unlike nearly every other type of offense
in the Criminal Code) is also able to be charged based solely on the subjective opinion
and claimed observations of the arresting officer.
139. When interviewed by FCPS’s Professional Standards Unit in the summer of 2022,
Haferman further solidified Plaintiff’s Monell claims, when he stated that throughout his
tenure as the DUI Officer, he “believed he was doing good work” and “didn’t have any
reason to believe he wasn’t doing good work based on no supervisors or experts in the
field saying otherwise.”
140. In the course of FCPS’s investigation into Haferman’s misconduct, multiple FCPS
officers admitted that Haferman’s failure to administer the roadsides to drivers correctly
was obvious and apparent on his videos.
141. When interviewed by FCPS’s Professional Standards Unit in the summer of 2022,
Haferman openly stated that he treated a driver’s invocation of the right to remain
silent as an indication of impairment because it “showed poor judgment in how to
interact with police.” He said this was also consistent with his training and experienced
received at FCPS.
142. In public statements to the press throughout the summer (as more Haferman victims
came forward to various news outlets and additional stories about Haferman and FCPS’s
pattern of wrongful DUI arrests continued to run), both Chief Swoboda and FCPS’s public
relations officer continued to make knowingly false and defamatory statements insisting
that Haferman had probable cause to make all of his arrests and insinuating that the
drivers whose blood results came back with nothing detected were simply impaired by
some other substance.
143. These continued defamatory statements made by FCPS suggesting his arrest was
lawful and that he had simply been on some kind of synthetic street drug or inhalant
caused Mr. Groves to suffer additional emotional distress and further compounded his
damages.
144. On September 1, 2022, the Larimer County District Attorney sent a letter to Chief
Swoboda referencing the fact that they had had several “previous discussions” concerning
Haferman’s integrity, judgment, and reliability, and now despite those “previous
discussions,” felt forced to conclude that Haferman “at minimum, has demonstrated a
significant disregard for the integrity of his investigations and does not have a firm grasp
of the impact of depriving our citizens of their liberty.”
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 37 of 44
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145. On September 2, 2022, FCPS announced that they were putting Haferman on
administrative leave.
146. In December of 2022, Chief Swoboda made a public statement on FCPS’s Facebook
page again, this time to announce that Haferman had resigned. He then explained that
when FCPS had actually reviewed his work (after being forced to by media inquiries in
May), FCPS had realized Haferman was lying in his reports, doing roadsides incorrectly,
and arresting people without probable cause.
147. No one at FCPS ever interviewed any of the victims of Haferman’s wrongful DUI
arrests as part of their several-month s long investigation resulting in a 68-page report.
148. A reporter offered Chief Swoboda the opportunity to apologize to victims of
Haferman’s wrongful arrests, including Mr. Groves in particular. Chief Swoboda refused
to issue any apology.
149. To date, no one at FCPS has offered any apology to Mr. Groves or any other victims
of Haferman’s and its repeated wrongful DUI arrests.
150. As a result of the Defendants’ violations of his constitutional rights under both the U.S.
and Colorado Constitutions, Plaintiff Mr. Groves has suffered damages, trauma,
depression, upset, loss of sleep, loss of work, loss of happiness, embarrassment,
disruption of family relationships, emotional distress, and a catastrophic loss of ability to
feel safe, to trust law enforcement, and to drive anywhere without risking again his loss of
liberty.
STATEMENT OF CLAIMS FOR RELIEF
FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Section 13-21-131, C.R.S. – Arrest Without Probable Cause
Violation of Colorado Constitution, Article II, Section 7
(against Defendant Haferman)
151. Plaintiff hereby incorporates all other paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth
herein.
152. Section 13-21-131 of the Colorado Revised Statutes directs that any peace officer who
“subjects or causes to be subjected, including failure to intervene, any other person to the
deprivation of any individual rights … secured by the bill of rights, article II of the state
constitution is liable to the injured party for legal or equitable relief or any other appropriate
relief.”
153. Statutory immunities and statutory limitations on liability, damages, or attorneys fees
do not apply to claims brought pursuant to § 13-21-131.
154. Defendant Haferman was a police officer under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-31-901(3),
employed by the City of Fort Collins and its Police Department at the time he wrongfully
seized, arrested and maliciously prosecuted Mr. Groves.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 38 of 44
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155. Officer Haferman did not at any time during his encounter with Mr. Groves have
probable cause or reasonable suspicion or any other legally valid basis to believe that Mr.
Groves had committed, was committing, or was about to commit any crime.
156. Defendant Officer Haferman unreasonably seized and arrested Mr. Groves, in
violation of his rights under the Constitution of the State of Colorado.
157. Officer Haferman did not at any time have a warrant authorizing his seizure or arrest
of Mr. Groves.
158. Officer Haferman violated Mr. Groves state constitutional rights by engaging in an
unlawful seizure of Mr. Groves that was objectively unreasonable in light of the facts and
circumstances confronting them before, during and after his encounter with Mr. Groves.
159. Defendant Haferman knowingly violated Mr. Groves individual rights as secured by
the bill of rights of the Colorado Constitution.
160. Defendant Haferman did not act upon a good faith and reasonable belief that his
actions in seizing Plaintiff without probable cause or reasonable suspicion was lawful.
161. The acts or omissions of the Defendant Haferman were the moving force behind, and
the proximate cause of, injuries sustained by Mr. Groves.
162. Defendant Haferman’s wrongful arrest and humiliation of Mr. Groves caused him to
experience extraordinary stress, expense, depression, terror and anxiety. The experience
of this event caused and continues to cause Mr. Groves trauma and emotional distress,
loss of any feeling of safety or security, along with all the other damages and injuries
described herein.
SECOND CLAIM FOR RELIEF
42 U.S.C. § 1983 – Unlawful Arrest Without Probable Cause – Individual, Failure-to-
Supervise/Train, Unconstitutional Pattern/Practice under Monell
Violation of Fourth Amendment, Due Process
(against Defendants Haferman , Sergeant Heaton, Corporal Redacted, and Fort Collins)
HAFERMAN
163. Plaintiff incorporates by reference the foregoing paragraphs of this Complaint as if set
forth fully herein.
164. The actions of Defendant Officer Haferman as described herein, while acting under
color of state law, intentionally deprived Mr. Groves of the securities, rights, privileges,
liberties, and immunities secured by the Constitution of the United States of America,
including his right to be free from unlawful seizure as guaranteed by the Fourth
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America and 42 U.S.C. § 1983, in
that Mr. Groves was arrested without a warrant and without probable cause to believe he
had committed any offense.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 39 of 44
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165. Defendant Officer Haferman knew that Mr. Groves was unimpaired and that he had
no probable cause to arrest him and he did so anyway, with deliberate indifference to Mr.
Groves’s rights under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
166. Officer Haferman’s arrest of Mr. Groves was objectively unreasonable in light of the
facts and circumstances confronting him before, during and after this encounter.
167. Officer Haferman’s conduct described herein was attended by circumstances of
malice, or willful and wanton conduct, which he must have realized was dangerous, or
that was done heedlessly and recklessly, without regard to the consequences or the rights
of others, particularly Plaintiff.
168. Defendant Officer Haferman falsified his report regarding evidence of impairment to
ensure that Plaintiff would be prosecuted for the DUI offense he had not committed.
169. Defendant Officer Haferman caused Plaintiff to be arrested without probable cause or
a warrant, and the false statements in his reports caused Plaintiff to be wrongly subjected
to criminal prosecution. Defendant Haferman’s actions were done with malice and caused
Plaintiff damages.
SERGEANT HEATON
170. Defendant Sergeant Heaton was responsible for supervising Defendant Haferman.
171. Defendant Sergeant Heaton was also personally involved in several of Haferman’s
wrongful DUI arrests.
172. Defendant Sergeant Heaton was able to observe that Haferman was wrongfully
arresting people and charging them with DUI and instead of doing anything to intervene
and stop the behavior, he instead expressly approved of it and at times even took
measures to help Haferman in covering it up.
173. If Defendant Sergeant Heaton had been fulfilling his duty to even intermittently review
Haferman’s work (particularly his repeated DUI arrests coming back with “none detected”
blood results), he would have seen that Haferman was lying in his reports, falsifying
impairment indicators, administering roadsides incorrectly, and regularly tampering with
or otherwise muting/disabling his bodyworn camera in violation of FCPS policy and
Colorado law.
174. If Defendant Sergeant Heaton had been fulfilling his duty to even intermittently review
Haferman’s work, he would have noticed the dozens of red flags indicating that his
intervention, supervision, and more was required to stop Haferman from his pattern and
practice of arresting innocent people for DUI.
175. Any reasonable supervisor in Sergeant Heaton’s position would have recognized that
Haferman was wrongfully arresting innocent people and regularly violating the
constitutional rights of citizens several months before Haferman encountered Plaintiff Mr.
Groves and subjected him to the same.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 40 of 44
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CORPORAL REDACTED
176. Defendant Corporal Redacted was also responsible for supervising Defendant
Haferman.
177. Defendant Corporal Redacted did nothing to actually supervise or monitor the work
being done by Officer Haferman.
178. If Defendant Corporal Redacted had been fulfilling his duty to even intermittently
review Haferman’s work (particularly his repeated DUI arrests coming back with “none
detected” blood results), he would have seen that Haferman was lying in his reports,
falsifying impairment indicators, administering roadsides incorrectly, and regularly
tampering with or otherwise muting/disabling his bodyworn camera in violation of FCPS
policy and Colorado law.
179. If Defendant Corporal Redacted had been fulfilling his duty to even intermittently
review Haferman’s work, he would have noticed the dozens of red flags indicating that his
intervention, supervision, and more was required to stop Haferman from his pattern and
practice of arresting innocent people for DUI.
180. Any reasonable supervisor in Corporal Redacted’s position would have recognized
that Haferman was wrongfully arresting innocent people and regularly violating the
constitutional rights of citizens several months before Haferman encountered Plaintiff Mr.
Groves and subjected him to the same.
CITY OF FORT COLLINS
181. Defendant City of Fort Collins is a governmental entity and municipality incorporated
under the laws of the State of Colorado for purposes of liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
and the Fort Collins Police Services is a department of the City of Fort Collins. Defendant
City of Fort Collins enforces local and state law through its law enforcement agency, the
Fort Collins Police Services (“FCPS”).
182. Defendant Fort Collins had a duty to train and supervise Defendant Haferman.
183. At all times relevant to this Complaint, Defendant City of Fort Collins employed and
was responsible for the promulgation of policies, customs, practices and training of
FCPS personnel, including Officers Haferman.
184. Defendant Fort Collins was aware Defendant Haferman’s propensity for wrongfully
arresting citizens to increase his DUI arrest numbers, falsifying his reports, and had
evidence of the same, and it chose to not just fail to remedy it, but to instead reward it,
ensuring it would continue to occur.
185. Both Fort Collins’s failure to supervise and train Haferman, as well as its
aforementioned unconstitutional customs/practices, were the moving force behind Mr.
Groves’s wrongful arrest.
186. Defendant Fort Collins’ actions and omissions violated Plaintiff’s federal constitutional
rights, and were a substantial and significant contributing cause and proximate cause of
Plaintiff’s damages.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 41 of 44
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187. Defendant Fort Collins did not act upon a good faith and reasonable belief that their
actions and omissions in failing to adequately train and supervise FCPS officers in this
area was lawful.
188. Defendant Fort Collins, through its Chief and policymaker Jeffrey Swoboda, made
knowingly false and defamatory statements to the public in the aftermath of its wrongful
arrest of Mr. Groves which exacerbated Mr. Groves’s emotional distress, suffering, and
damages by insinuating that he had been on some other kind of drug they couldn’t test
for and falsely suggesting that testing for those other drugs was too expensive for the
agency (when the testing was free).
189. These Defendants’ conduct were the proximately cause of the injuries, damages, and
losses to Mr. Groves described herein.
THIRD CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Section 13-21-131, C.R.S. – Violation of Due Process
Malicious Prosecution
Violation of Colorado Constitution, Article II, Section 25
(against Defendant Haferman)
190. Plaintiff Mr. Groves incorporates by reference the foregoing paragraphs of this
Complaint as if set forth fully herein.
191. Defendant Haferman was a police officer under Colo. Rev. Stat. § 24-31-901(3),
employed by the City of Fort Collins at the time he wrongfully seized, arrested and
maliciously prosecuted Mr. Groves.
192. Section 25 of Article II of the Colorado state constitution guarantees to Mr. Groves the
right to not be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.
193. Defendant Haferman caused the criminal prosecution against Mr. Groves by falsifying
and deliberately exaggerating the facts in his report and his Affidavit for Warrantless
Arrest, in an effort to make it more likely to appear there had been probable cause for Mr.
Groves’s arrest, and providing those documents to the District Attorney.
194. Defendant Officer Haferman’s false allegations were the sole moving force behind the
criminal prosecution against Mr. Groves, which included Mr. Groves being subjected to
extremely oppressive and humiliating bond conditions as already detailed herein.
195. Defendant Haferman’s actions were done with malice.
196. No probable cause supported the criminal charges Haferman brought against Mr.
Groves.
197. The criminal prosecution against Mr. Groves resolved in his favor when the Larimer
County Court dismissed the case against him on August 10, 2022.
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 42 of 44
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198. Defendant Haferman’s malicious and false prosecution of Mr. Groves caused him to
suffer further trauma, damages, lost wages, suffering, depression, and despair.
FOURTH CLAIM FOR RELIEF
42. U.S.C. § 1983 – Malicious Prosecution
Fourth Amendment, Due Process Violations
(against Defendant Haferman)
199. Plaintiff incorporates by reference the foregoing paragraphs of this Complaint as if set
forth fully herein.
200. Defendant Haferman caused the criminal prosecution against Mr. Groves by falsifying
and deliberately exaggerating the facts in his report in an effort to make it more likely to
appear there had been probable cause for Mr. Groves’s arrest, and providing those
documents to the District Attorney.
201. Defendant Officer Haferman’s false allegations were the sole moving force behind the
criminal prosecution against Mr. Groves.
202. Defendant Haferman’s actions were done with malice.
203. No probable cause supported the criminal charges Haferman brought against Mr.
Groves.
204. The criminal prosecution against Mr. Groves resolved in his favor when the Larimer
County Court dismissed the case against him on August 10, 2022.
205. Defendant Haferman’s malicious and false prosecution of Mr. Groves caused him to
suffer further trauma, damages, lost wages, suffering, depression, and despair.
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests this Court enter judgment in his favor and
against Defendants, and award him all relief as allowed by law and equity, including but not
limited to:
a. Declaratory relief and injunctive relief, as appropriate;
b. Actual economic damages as established at trial;
c. Compensatory damages, including but not limited to those for past and future
pecuniary and non-pecuniary losses, physical and mental pain, trauma, fear, anxiety,
loss of enjoyment of life, loss of liberty, loss of sense of security, and other non-
pecuniary losses;
d. Punitive or exemplary damages for all claims as allowed by law in an amount to be
determined at trial;
e. Issuance of an Order mandating appropriate equitable relief, including but not limited
to:
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 43 of 44
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i. Issuance of a formal written apology from each Defendant to Plaintiff;
ii. The imposition of appropriate policy changes designed to avoid future similar
misconduct by Defendants;
iii. Mandatory training designed to avoid and prevent future similar misconduct by
Defendants;
iv. Imposition of disciplinary action against appropriate employees of Fort Collins;
f. Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest at the highest lawful rate;
g. Attorney’s fees and costs; and
h. Such further relief as justice requires.
JURY DEMAND
Plaintiff demands a jury trial on all issues so triable.
Respectfully submitted this 3rd day of May, 2023, by:
THE LIFE & LIBERTY LAW OFFICE LLC
s/ Sarah Schielke
Sarah Schielke, #42077
Co-Counsel for Plaintiff
HALTZMAN LAW FIRM, P.C.
s/ Matthew Haltzman
Matthew Haltzman, #47913
Co-Counsel for Plaintiff
Case No. 1:23-cv-01339-RM-STV Document 4 filed 05/26/23 USDC Colorado pg 44 of 44