No criminal charges for man who drove through a crowd of protesters
The driver of a Jeep who accelerated through a crowd marching on Interstate 225 in July to protest the death of Elijah McClain will not face criminal charges unless additional evidence is discovered, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
“As of today, with as much effort and resources we put in this, there aren’t going to be any charges,” 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler said.
Brauchler said he did not have enough evidence to ethically take a case to trial.
At a news conference, he ran reporters through a list of charges he considered but decided not to pursue, including attempted murder, attempted reckless manslaughter, reckless endangerment and careless driving. For each charge, Brauchler said he didn’t believe he could convince a jury that the Jeep driver intentionally tried to endanger people and that he acted recklessly.
“If this guy wants to run into people, he had plenty of opportunity to do that,” Brauchler said.
Wednesday’s announcement follows the arrests last week of organizers of the July 25 march and several other large rallies in Aurora.
The 18th Judicial District attorney’s office filed charges against four protest organizers, including felony charges alleging they incited a riot and theft for taking signs from counterprotesters. The protesters face years in prison if convicted and face charges from the 17th Judicial District attorney’s office. Three of the protester organizers remained in jail Wednesday afternoon without bail, jail records show.
Brauchler’s decision not to charge the Jeep driver disappointed people who marched on the highway that day and felt their lives were in danger.
“I saw him look straight at the crowd and hit the gas,” said Rebecca Wolff, a protester who spoke with Aurora police detectives about the incident. “It doesn’t surprise me, but it’s all nonsense, you know. I’m pretty sure if it was my son driving, who is young and brown, he’d be behind bars already.”
Investigators are missing several pieces of significant evidence, Brauchler said. They do not have video confirming the driver’s allegations that protesters surrounded his Jeep and struck it. They are also missing footage showing the Jeep before it encountered the crowd. Brauchler said the Jeep driver maneuvered around a protester on a motorcycle blocking the on- ramp to the interstate, but said there is no video to show that interaction.
Both the driver and the passenger in the Jeep have refused to speak to investigators beyond the statements they gave to police the day of the protest.
Brauchler said it wasn’t unreasonable for the driver to try to get away from the crowd if the driver’s allegations that he was surrounded by protesters who struck his vehicle is true.
“I wouldn’t have stopped on that road,” Brauchler said. “I don’t know anybody who would have.”
Videos of the July incident show the Jeep accelerating along the highway before striking a truck driven by a man who pulled into the Jeep’s lane because wanted to slow the Jeep.
The Jeep then continued down the road, despite a flat tire, and toward a crowd of hundreds chanting and marching.
The truck driver, Sebastian Sassi, watched the news conference Wednesday and said he was frustrated with Brauchler’s decision to not charge the Jeep driver, whom The Denver Post is not identifying because he is not facing criminal charges.
“He’s giving ( the driver) a pass and he’s gone out of his way to do it,” Sassi said.
Sassi said Brauchler gave too much credence to the Jeep driver’s statements made the day of the incident while ignoring the testimony of several witnesses who said that nobody surrounded the Jeep or struck it before it reached the crowd. The Jeep driver would have struck protesters had Sassi not intervened with his truck, Sassi said.
“If ( the Jeep driver) did what he did toward a line of police officers he wouldn’t still be on this earth,” Sassi said.
People in the crowd screamed as the Jeep closed in on them and people dove out of the way. Data from the Jeep obtained by investigators shows the vehicle accelerated from 29 mph to 50 mph after its collision with the truck, Brauchler said.
The Jeep did not strike any protesters, though one woman broke her leg after she jumped off the side of the raised highway because she feared she would be struck. A member of the crowd, Samuel Young, faces four counts of attempted firstdegree murder and two counts
of assault for allegedly firing multiple bullets at the Jeep. They instead struck two others at the protest, though Brauchler said Wednesday that two bullets also hit the back of the Jeep.
Brauchler on Wednesday asked anyone with video or who was there that day who hasn’t spoken with investigators to call Crime Stoppers. He said he will not be pursuing charges of obstructing a highway against any of the other protesters in hopes that more will come forward. He also will not be pressing charges against Sassi.
Brauchler said the case against the Jeep driver remains open and that there is no statute of limitation for attempted- murder charges. Other felonies have a statute of limitation of three years.
“This wasn’t a knee- jerk reaction and the door isn’t closed forever on these things,” he said.