DANCING FBI AGENT PLEADS NOT GUILTY
The FBI agent charged with accidentally shooting a man after doing a backflip as part of a dance at a Denver bar pleaded not guilty to an assault charge Thursday morning.
Chase Bishop, 30, entered the plea at his arraignment in Denver District Court on the single second-degree assault charge he faces in connection to the June 2 incident, said Ken Lane, spokesman for the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
Bishop was off duty and dancing at Mile High Spirits in Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood and decided to do a backflip as a crowd of people looked on, a video of the shooting shows. During the flip, his gun fell out of the waistband of his pants. The gun fired when Bishop picked it up, and the bullet struck a man in the leg. The man he shot was struck in a leg artery, but was expected to recover.
Bishop is scheduled to appear in court again Jan. 17, online court records show. — Elise Schmelzer,
Woman sentenced in armed robbery.
A 23-yearold woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for her role in an armed robbery at a Wheat Ridge motel in which a service dog was shot.
Jasmine Nicole Martinez pleaded guilty Oct. 1 to conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, a felony, according to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. She was sentenced Oct. 31.
On Nov. 10, 2017, Martinez and co-defendant Jemelle Adams knocked on the door to Room 504 at the American Motel, 10101 W. I-70 Frontage Road, giving false names in an attempt to gain entry, according to a news release.
Two women inside the room didn’t recognize the names and refused to open the door. Adams, armed with a handgun, broke through the door and demanded “pills and money.” Martinez also entered the room and brandished a handgun during the robbery.
Both victims were assaulted, and one woman’s service dog became aggressive in defense of her owner. The dog bit Adams in the leg. That’s when Adams shot the 10-year-old dog, named Nalla.
Nalla had to have a leg amputated because of the shooting.
Adams’ case is ongoing. He is being held at the Jefferson County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond. — Kieran
Driver dies in crash while fleeing deputies.
A driver, apparently wanted on an outstanding felony arrest warrant, fled Larimer County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday night, heading south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 25, where he died in a head-on crash with a semi-truck.
The incident unfolded at about 7:05 p.m. when a deputy tried to stop a vehicle in Fort Collins, according to a news release.
The deputy pursued the 1993 Lexus sedan east on Mulberry over an I-25 overpass when the Lexus driver turned south onto the northbound exit ramp. The deputy tried to bump the sedan to a stop but was unsuccessful. At that point the deputy ended the pursuit, the news release said.
A short time later the Lexus, going in the wrong direction, crashed head-on into a 1988 Peterbilt truck and trailer, which was in the right-hand lane, according to the Colorado State Patrol. — Kieran Nicholson,