RSSPolice apologize to Bradford
Denver Police Lt. Matt Murray admits Tuesday that State Rep. Laura Bradford, R-Grand Junction, was given special treatment during a suspected DUI stop, even though she specifically told them she did not want special treatment. Murray also said that Bradford told police she had a gun in the car when she was pulled over in the Capitol Hill area after 10 p.m. on Jan. 25.
Laura Bradford
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Rep. Laura Bradford said House Speaker Frank McNulty’s decision to create an ethics panel to look into allegations she improperly invoked a little-known legislative privilege is entirely political.
As a result, she plans to ask for a moment of personal privilege when the Colorado House convenes today, much like she did Monday when she apologized over a controversial traffic stop last week, an apology Bradford said she was commanded to offer.
But this time, the Collbran Republican said she isn’t planning to apologize.
“You do not want to miss tomorrow’s floor when I ask for personal privilege, and I think by the rules I get 10 minutes,” Bradford said Tuesday after the Denver Police Department apologized for saying she tried to invoke legislative privilege to get out of being issued a citation for driving under the influence of alcohol.
“He (McNulty) is going to gavel me, but I’m using my 10 minutes, and it will be newsworthy,” she said.
Bradford said she has an appointment with House Minority Leader Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, at 6 o’clock this morning.
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BRADFORD PROMISES FIREWORKS ON STATEHOUSE FLOOR See page 8A.
About the same time House Speaker Frank McNulty announced Tuesday that he would create an ethics panel to investigate whether Rep. Laura Bradford improperly invoked legislative privilege to get out of a possible DUI, the Denver Police Department exonerated the Collbran Republican.
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Denver Police Lt. Matt Murray said one of the officers led Bradford to use the privilege, even though the legislator kept saying she should be treated like everyone else.
“No one believed me,” a teary Bradford told The Daily Sentinel soon afterward. “No one believed me.”
In an exclusive interview with The Sentinel, Bradford confirmed she was at a nightclub near the Colorado Capitol meeting for three hours with legislators and lobbyists to discuss several pending pieces of legislation.
She admitted to having three glasses of wine and a large meal, but she does not believe her blood-alcohol content was above the legal limit for driving.
When she left for her Denver apartment about 10 p.m. on Jan. 25, Bradford said she was forced to swerve into the right lane of Downing Street about 14 blocks east of the Capitol after the passenger door of a car improperly parked in the left lane suddenly opened.
“I had to swerve slightly to the right to avoid hitting, ripping that door off,” Bradford said.
“I corrected myself. I think that was the improper lane change (citation), because I didn’t put my blinker on. I did it rather abruptly.”
A Denver police officer then pulled her over and asked her several questions, including whether she had been at a legislative event. The officer later called a supervisor to advise him about how to proceed.
At the news conference, Murray, aide to Denver Police Chief Robert White, apologized to Bradford for that supervisor’s decision to allow her to take the privilege, even though she asked to be treated like everyone else and given a Breathalyzer or blood-alcohol test.
“Twice at least during the (police) contact she asked to be treated like everyone else,” Murray said. “She was trying to get us to do the right thing, and we didn’t. She asked us to. She could have been cleared by that (blood-alcohol) test.”
Murray said he was wrong to report to the media over the past week that Bradford invoked the privilege, saying the officers involved in the incident came to department officials Monday to say that was never the case.
“We apologized to the representative,” Murray said. “We were wrong.”
Still, Murray said the department has decided to recommend that the Denver District Attorney’s Office file an additional charge against Bradford of possession of a handgun while intoxicated.
During the police stop, the lawmaker was issued two minor traffic citations.
During the traffic stop, before she was given a roadside sobriety test, Bradford offered to have police search her car, Bradford and Murray said.
But before they did that, Bradford told them she had a concealed-weapons license, and her loaded 9mm handgun was mounted beneath the driver’s seat of her car.
“I offered them to search my car,” Bradford said. “I said, ‘But before you do that, here’s my concealed-carry permit, there’s a weapon under the front seat of the car, and the clip is in it. I don’t want you to be surprised or anybody hurt.’ “
Later, the supervisor told Bradford they would lock her car and put her in a cab, but the supervisor told her not to mention the gun, which they gave back to her, Bradford said.
As a result, the department has launched an internal-affairs investigation into the supervisor’s decision to grant legislative privilege to Bradford and keep any mention of a gun out of the police report.
Murray declined to identify the female supervisor other than to say she is a sergeant and has not been suspended from duty.
He said unlike a DUI, a charge of prohibited use of a weapon does not require a blood-alcohol level of intoxication.
Murray said that while it’s up to the district attorney to file charges, there’s enough evidence to support it from the officer’s observations and the roadside test, which he said Bradford failed.
He said Bradford drove for several blocks after the initial patrol car came up behind her with its emergency lights on, and she almost struck a car when she did stop.
“He smelled alcohol on her breath, she said she’d been drinking, but he wasn’t sure what to do at this point because he knew we had some special regulation about legislators,” Murray said.
He said it was the supervisor who initiated the conversation with Bradford about her being a representative.
“The supervisor appears to have told the (other) officer to be quiet about (the gun) and did not include that fact in any report,” Murray said.
“She is under investigation now from our internal affairs bureau.”
Murray said the officers at the scene should have gone the next step and tested Bradford’s blood-alcohol level.
Meanwhile, McNulty said that despite the police apology, he is going ahead with the ethics panel.
He said the question of legislative privilege was a concern, but not the only one.
“I appreciate very much that the Denver Police Department has apologized,” McNulty said.
“The account they released (Tuesday) very much validates Representative Bradford’s accounts on the question of legislative privilege. ... From our perspective, we recognize that this is a very serious situation, and the House ethics committee that’s been impaneled will continue their review.
“But they are going to make an inquiry as best as they’re able into the other aspect of this question related to the smell of an alcoholic beverage and the roadside test. The seriousness of the allegations here required us to move forward.”
COMMENTS
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.I think that all of the comments in editorials, columns and letters to the editor that jumped on the ‘lets hanger her’ bandwagon should now submit public written apologies to Rep. Bradford for their quick judgement of a situation that was not reported correctly by overzealous news media.
The actions of the Denver police do not change the fundamental situation: Bradford was boozing with a bunch of lobbyists at a Denver bar late at night - she was driving while under the influence while carrying a loaded gun - she accepted legislative immunity when offered - to date, she has not rescinded that immunity . Those are the FACTS!