Harris Elias and his 15-year-old son have been driving house from dinner at a neighborhood Fort Collins, Colorado, taco spot once they acquired pulled over.
Elias, a 51-year-old single father of three, informed The Each day Beast that he instantly “put his defenses up” as he observed Officer Jason Haferman strolling as much as his driver-side window on Dec. 3, 2021.
“At first, he requested me if I knew why he had pulled me over, which I assumed was a ridiculous query as a result of I had no concept why he would pull me over,” Elias Mentioned. “As quickly as he requested me what I needed to drink, I knew it was occurring once more.”
The harrowing sense of deja-vu, he mentioned, was spurred as a result of simply two years prior, he had been arrested by a Loveland, Colorado, police officer on suspicion of driving below the affect (DUI). The case was finally dismissed, but it surely instilled a deep worry of overzealous regulation enforcement in Elias.
In a police report obtained by The Each day Beast, Haferman claimed Elias’ “eyes have been glassy, pupils constricted, and his respiration was deep” and instantly positioned him below arrest to get examined for medicine and alcohol at a neighborhood hospital. A Colorado Bureau of Investigation Forensic Companies lab report later detected no medicine or alcohol in his system.
However earlier than these outcomes got here again, Elias was already midway to hell.
“I can’t clarify what it’s like strolling by way of the hospital handcuffed. To see how individuals have a look at you, and the way the workers interacts with you,” Elias mentioned. “It was actually degrading.”
The humiliation, he mentioned, was simply the beginning. When he was allowed to bond out of jail three days later, he mentioned, he needed to take care of youngster protecting providers and beg a decide to let him have contact along with his son.
That’s as a result of in Colorado, state regulation dictates that a person who commits a DUI that entails a toddler will also be prosecuted for youngster abuse, a cost Elias confronted along with driving below the affect and careless driving. Elias finally acquired all expenses dropped after roughly two months—however, he mentioned, the sting hasn’t gone away.
Harris Elias
Picture Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Each day Beast/Getty/Fort Collins Police Division
“Understanding that I couldn’t even drive with my very own child and there was zero proof that I violated any regulation… it made me really feel six inches tall,” Elias defined. “By far, the factor that doesn’t go away from this case is the kid abuse facet of it. It’s the final strategy to damage somebody who has spent the final 15 years as a single dad.”
Elias shouldn’t be the one Colorado resident to be wrongfully accused of driving below the affect after being stopped by Haferman. In reality, the Fort Collins Police Division confirmed to The Each day Beast that within the final two years, not less than 9 of Haferman’s DUI arrests have been executed on drivers with no medicine or alcohol of their programs.
The stunning collection of questionable arrests was first reported by Fox31.
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It’s overwhelming. He acquired off scot-free.
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Not included amongst these 9 is the case of Harley Padilla—despite the fact that the severely disabled man was pressured to spend a yr in jail when Haferman arrested him after he mentioned Padilla was slurring his phrases and that his steadiness was uneven. After a bike accident 4 years prior, the 52-year-old misplaced his left arm and is pressured to talk by way of a gap in his throat.
“Due to his accidents, I don’t suppose Harley Padilla even has the capability to slur phrases,” his lawyer, Troy Krenning, informed The Each day Beast. “He speaks by way of his throat and doesn’t use his tongue or lips. Haferman additionally talked about his steadiness being uneven. No shit, he’s disabled.”
On the finish of his bench trial over the Feb. 18, 2021, arrest, Larimer County Choose Sarah Beth Remedy discovered not solely that Padilla was not responsible of driving below the affect, but in addition that Officer Haferman lacked “credibility” and provided “inconsistent” testimony.
“It modified course on a number of of the important thing information. A few of his testimony shouldn’t be supported by the proof,” Remedy concluded in her ruling, in accordance with a transcript obtained by The Each day Beast. “In reality, a few of it was opposite to the proof.”
However earlier than Fort Collins Police Chief Jeff Swoboda might hearth Haferman after an inside police investigation, the 31-year-old resigned from the pressure, because the chief introduced early this month. A police spokesperson confirmed the resignation got here after Haferman had been reassigned twice and finally positioned on go away after a evaluation initially started at the beginning of the yr—earlier than inside affairs started their very own investigation in April.
“The interior affairs investigation didn’t establish any malintent or felony violations,” the spokesperson mentioned. “It did reveal a sample of poor efficiency by way of administrative duties, procedural consistency, and adherence to the requirements of operation that we prepare and count on from our officers.”
Three residents subjected to Haferman’s arrest spree informed The Each day Beast they have been horrified by the thought the now-former cop has seemingly gotten off “scot-free” whereas they’re left with what they describe as bodily, psychological, and emotional scars from encounters with him.
Carl Sever (left) and Cody Erbacher (proper)
Picture Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Each day Beast/Getty/Fort Collins Police Division
All describe Haferman stopping them below the pretense that they dedicated a minor site visitors infraction. Then—after claiming they exhibited indicators of drunk driving resembling smelling like alcohol or having glassy eyes or dilated pupils—they are saying Haferman pressured them into squad vehicles and took them to hospitals, handcuffed, to get a blood check. The individuals who spoke with The Each day Beast all produced state blood check outcomes displaying that no alcohol was discovered of their system.
All say they have been pressured to spend money and time to clear their title and finally have the costs dropped. “It was horrible,” Padilla informed The Each day Beast.
One other girl informed a neighborhood information outlet that she was pressured to remain in jail in a single day despite the fact that she repeatedly defined to Haferman that her eyes have been crimson as a result of she had simply been dumped by her boyfriend and had been crying for 3 hours.
Haferman didn’t reply to a request for remark for this story. And his document shouldn’t be unblemished: if he have been to use to a brand new division, the state’s “Peace Officer Requirements and Coaching” database would present the cop “resigned whereas below investigation.”
However the cop’s resignation, in accordance with felony protection attorneys and the police division, signifies that technically, Haferman can transfer to a different state (and even one other Colorado county) and apply for one more regulation enforcement place. A spokesperson for the Fort Collins Police Division informed The Each day Beast that despite the fact that Haferman was going through termination, the state company “doesn’t prohibit employment if an officer resigns from an company, and termination shouldn’t be automated grounds for decertification in Colorado.”
That raises the prospect the cop might land in a brand new gig—infuriating these caught up in what they described as a mindless dragnet that upended their lives.
“I can by no means have a look at a police officer the identical manner once more,” Elias mentioned.
Haferman was not precisely shy about accusing individuals of drunk driving. It was, in any case, his job.
Of the 504 driving-under-the-influence arrests his division made final yr, a police spokesperson confirmed that Haferman was concerned in 191—or about 37 %— “both as the first arresting officer or offering DUI investigative assist.”
That quantity shouldn’t be, in and of itself, terribly stunning on condition that Haferman labored in a DUI enforcement task on the time.
However police say that eight of these instances in 2021 alone resulted in arrests the place blood exams indicated no medicine or alcohol detected. Police additionally admit that Haferman was concerned in not less than another arrest the place no medicine or alcohol have been detected this yr.
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I used to be despatched to jail. After which I stayed there as a result of I refused to confess I used to be drunk driving after I wasn’t.
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“Folks nonetheless joke to this present day, ‘Don’t Drink and Drive, however even in case you’re not consuming, you may nonetheless get a DUI’” in Larimer County, Matthew Haltzman, an lawyer representing a person who Haferman arrested in April on a DUI cost that was dismissed, informed The Each day Beast. “It was that dangerous.”
Amongst his targets was Padilla, who was driving house after spending the day visiting a good friend in Fort Collins when he observed the flashing behind him.
“I noticed the lights and instantly thought it was a plower due to all of the snow on the bottom,” Padilla informed The Each day Beast. “Then I spotted it was a cop automobile.”
Padilla was no stranger to being pulled over. He was additionally not harmless of driving-related crimes, having pleaded responsible or no contest to a number of DUIs through the years. However he informed The Each day Beast that historical past—and his bodily state—had left him making an attempt more durable than ever “to do all the things proper on the street.”
So he was shocked when Haferman informed him he had been swerving whereas driving and accused him of driving below the affect. Haferman instantly positioned Padilla in handcuffs and despatched him to the hospital for a blood check, which got here again clear for alcohol, in accordance with a transcript of a decide’s ruling.
In the course of the transport through ambulance—at his personal request, given he had an an infection in his femur—Padilla mentioned his wrist was damage and his shoulder knocked out of its socket.
“On the hospital, they recommended I keep for a number of days due to all the things improper with me,” Padilla mentioned. “However as an alternative I used to be despatched to jail. After which I stayed there as a result of I refused to confess I used to be drunk driving after I wasn’t.”
On the finish of his bench trial, a decide agreed with him that he wasn’t drunk driving. However Padilla was discovered responsible of possessing an open marijuana container in his automobile and acknowledged that he had THC in his system—although the blood check outcome confirmed it was beneath the state restrict for driving, and he mentioned it was bought along with his medical marijuana card.
For his half, Elias noticed each cost towards him dismissed. However getting there was a battle.
Haferman acknowledged in a police report that he stopped Elias after the motive force didn’t have his “headlamps activated at evening… didn’t yield the precise of strategy to the pedestrians and made a large flip to get across the pedestrians.” The officer additionally mentioned that he become the improper lane with out utilizing his proper flip sign.
Haferman additionally famous that Elias refused to take part in roadside exams to find out his sobriety; Elias informed The Each day Beast he refused to take action as a result of he “shut down” and didn’t need something he mentioned to be misinterpreted later.
“It took me longer to search out my automobile insurance coverage and registration than it did for him to conduct his drunk driving investigation and arrest me,” Elias mentioned.
Physique-cam footage of the arrest obtained by The Each day Beast reveals Elias remaining calm however refusing to reply Haferman’s questions as he looked for his license and insurance coverage. Finally getting out of the automobile, Elias says within the footage that he refuses to take part in his sobriety trials and asks for him to “write him a ticket and let him go.”
Haferman refused and continued to ask him whether or not he consumed alcohol—in response to which Elias insisted on talking to his lawyer. Within the footage, Elias is heard telling Haferman that {the handcuffs} have been hurting him.
“It was a violent arrest,” Elias mentioned. “He shortly got here behind me and grabbed my left wrist and put it in a painful wrist lock. It instantly despatched me right into a panic.”
As Haferman was closing the squad door behind him, Elias mentioned, the cop “slammed the door on my knee”—a transfer that prompted him to scream out “fuck, Jesus Christ!” within the body-cam footage. Within the arrest report, Haferman wrote that he felt “some restriction when the door was virtually closed.”
After he was finally launched from jail, Elias mentioned, he confronted random drug exams that pressured him to pee in entrance of a stranger—and a mirror—and misplaced cash paying an impartial lab and a lawyer to clear his title.
Whereas it’s been months for the reason that district lawyer dismissed expenses towards Elias, he burdened that the “downside didn’t essentially go away.” Along with what he claims is emotional misery from the arrest, he mentioned he has misplaced his former sense of security and safety in his group that has him “continuously wanting over my shoulder.”
“It’s arduous to even give it some thought once more,” he added. And the data that Haferman was capable of resign “seems like lower than a slap on the wrist.”
“It’s overwhelming,” he mentioned. “He acquired off scot-free.”
The Fort Collins Police Division’s inside affairs division formally started to look into allegations of wrongdoing by Haferman in April. By then, Carly Zimmerman had already been arrested after being stopped for allegedly driving recklessly previous Haferman as he was executing one other site visitors cease.
In body-camera footage obtained by KDVR, Haferman asks Zimmerman how a lot she has needed to drink—to which she replies that she had not had any, however has “been crying for about three hours” as a result of she had simply gone by way of a breakup. Zimmerman’s cost was finally dismissed and her driver’s license was reinstated after a listening to, in accordance with the outlet. (Zimmerman and her lawyer didn’t reply to a request for remark.)
Across the identical time, Derrick Groves was arrested, too. In accordance with an April 7 arrest report obtained by The Each day Beast, Haferman stopped Groves after the person allegedly misplaced management of his automobile and drove down an embankment.
Noting that Groves was on probation for a previous DUI offense, Haferman mentioned he shortly concluded that he had “bloodshot, glassy eyes, his pupils gave the impression to be completely different sizes, and he [his] speech was gradual and raspy at occasions,” the report states. Groves insisted that he “doesn’t use alcohol and medicines as a result of he was on probation…[and] acknowledged that he was 100% sober.”
Groves was finally arrested and compelled to go to the hospital to get a blood check earlier than finally getting positioned in a jail cell for a day. The district lawyer finally dismissed his DUI in June—and his careless driving cost two months later.
A Colorado Bureau of Investigation Forensic Companies lab report mentioned no medicine or alcohol have been detected.
“I can’t diagnose PTSD, however he actually has all of the signs of being somebody who’s traumatized,” Matthew Haltzman, his lawyer, informed The Each day Beast.
The Larimer County District Legal professional’s Workplace informed The Each day Beast they have been first made conscious of the suspicious instances this summer season. That’s when the District Legal professional’s workplace was knowledgeable by Fort Collins Police that that they had already began conducting an inside evaluation.
Matt Maillaro, an assistant district lawyer, informed The Each day Beast that by August—after going by way of case recordsdata and discovering “extra problematic instances”—his workplace contacted the police division with the information.
They’d “not be prosecuting instances during which former officer Haferman was a vital witness,” the prosecutor mentioned.
Maillaro added that the DA’s workplace concluded that a number of of Haferman’s arrests have been “made primarily based on poor judgment, disregard for the correct procedures and coaching, and a misunderstanding or disregard of the authorized necessities relating to possible trigger.”
However they didn’t discover something to assist felony expenses towards him.
“By way of our evaluation, it was obvious this had already been carried out on many of the instances by advantage of every prosecutor dismissing Haferman’s dangerous instances once they noticed the proof didn’t assist a prosecution,” Maillaro added.
It stays to be seen if Haferman can stroll away fully unscathed.
Elias’ lawyer, Sarah Schielke, informed The Each day Beast that she plans to file a lawsuit towards the Fort Collins Police Division and Haferman on behalf of Elias and a number of other different purchasers who have been additionally falsely arrested on DUI expenses. Matthew Haltzman mentioned he plans to file an identical lawsuit subsequent yr.
“I feel that Jason Haferman had an innate need to be the most effective DUI cop out right here or on his pressure, regardless of the price. Irrespective of who was left in his wake,” Haltzman mentioned. “However whereas he was simply seeing prey, he was not realizing he was leaving individuals’s lives ceaselessly modified.”
“However that’s over now. His reign of terror is over and it’s time to get justice.”
The post Rogue Cop Gave Out DUIs Like Sweet—and Despatched Lives Into Chaos first appeared on Raw News.
