A culture of competitive DUI arrests by officers and police departments is leading to the breakdown of civil liberties in Colorado, according to a lawyer hired by Harris Elias. The city of Loveland has agreed to pay Mr. Elias $400,000 over a 2020 arrest in which both a breathalyzer test and a blood test proved he was not drunk or under the influence of any drugs. The following year nearby Fort Collins police put Elias in jail for three days in the pursuit of a DUI conviction, but again his blood test showed no chemical impairments. A second lawsuit is in process for that arrest as well.
“It’s just striking that it was me twice,” said Elias. “I’m surprised it didn’t happen to more people twice. All that they cared about was one notch in their belt and I just happened to drive by twice. Both the City of Loveland and Fort Collins picked the wrong guy to pick a fight with. And I picked the right attorney,” he continued.
“If we’re incentivizing and patting them [officers making DUI arrests] on the back for the quantity of DUI arrests that they’re making, without caring at all for the quality of them, that’s a disgusting and terrible system that is going to hurt more and more innocent people,” stated Sarah Schielke, Elias’ lawyer.
In the case of the 2020 arrest, Elias was initially pulled over for failing to signal a lane change, and for driving 18 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone. The officer verbalized at the time that the car smelled “overwhelming odor of alcohol” and took Elias into custody when he declined a roadside alcohol test. A breath test administered at the police station returned nothing, so the officers pushed for a blood test as well.
Schielke believes Colorado cops have begun pursuing DUI arrests with reckless disregard for innocence, setting up competition between officers and departments for “more bragging rights, more funding, more equipment, more officers, and more literal trophies.” These officers, she argues, are solely concerned with their stats. Officers with the most DUI arrests are given higher honors and better shifts.
