Court Cases

This lawsuit was originally filed on behalf of five persons, each of whom was unjustly arrested and imprisoned—up to 26 days in one case—in a “mistaken identity” arrest.

On January 8, 2004, the ACLU filed this lawsuit and asked for an emergency order to stop Weld County law enforcement authorities from pursuing a criminal investigation and prosecution of Thomas Mink, the publisher of The Howling Pig, an Internet-based publication that features satiric commentary on issues of public concern to the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) community.

This class action, filed July 19, 2006, alleges that prisoners in the Garfield County Jail in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, are subjected to a pervasive pattern of disproportionate and excessive force carried out by deputies’ misuse and abuse of pepperball guns, restraint chairs, tasers, electroshock belts, and pepper spray. The jail has no written policies that limit deputies’ use of the first four of these devices, and the suit alleges that the one-page policy on pepper spray is insufficient as written and widely violated in practice.

This case involves the unconstitutional arrest and imprisonment of a student and CopWatch volunteer, Evan Herzoff, who was guilty of nothing more than asking for a police officer’s business card.