Boulder drunks: Cops will be on your case this weekend

Memorial Day may not seem like a party-hearty event — but it’s a three-day weekend on the cusp of summer, which is all the excuse for cutting loose plenty of folks need. With that in mind, the Boulder Police Department wants residents to know exactly what officers will be doing…

Colorado Crimes: Watch your wallets and purses in Lakewood, Boulder

Yesterday, the police departments in Lakewood and Boulder put out warnings about wallet thefts within minutes of each other. Seventeen wallet thefts have taken place in Lakewood since February 1, while Boulder is looking for purse snatchers in two specific incidents. A photo of the first Boulder-area suspect is seen…

Speed kills in off-highway crash

Seat belts are important: Every car passenger should wear them. But they’re not a panacea — particularly when a vehicle traveling more than 100 MPH loses control. That’s what happened yesterday afternoon at 56th Avenue east of E-470. The driver died as a result of the crash in the fifth…

Colorado Crimes: Aurora police chief insists officer-involved shooting justified

While the Aurora Police Department still hasn’t officially confirmed that eighteen-year-old Darius Murray was the person seriously wounded in an officer-involved shooting over the weekend, complaints from his family about so-called “inconsistencies” in the APD’s reports prompted the following statement from Police Chief Daniel J. Oates: “There is no question…

Colorado Crimes: Arrest of suspect in Geneva Street shooting

There was more action involving the Aurora Police Department this weekend beyond the officer-involved shooting noted in this earlier blog. Corey Ray Albat, 21, who was being held in Hays, Kansas, on an unrelated warrant, has been arrested on a first-degree-murder charge related to a shooting that took place at…

Colorado Crimes: Officer-involved shooting in Aurora

View Larger Map Early Sunday morning, the Aurora Police Department offered information about an officer-involved shooting. Details remain fuzzy, although the Associated Press reports that the cops who fired will be put on paid administrative leave while investigators look into the matter. Click “Continue” to read the Aurora Police’s description,…

In Zapata case, sixty years added to murderer’s life sentence

Allen Andrade will likely spend the rest of his life in jail. A judge today added 60 years to the life sentence he received for killing transgender Greeley teen Angie Zapata last summer, piling on time for lesser crimes the 32-year-old committed in connection with the murder. Andrade was convicted…

Carol Chambers, the death penalty and the 7-Eleven slaying

It’s been a good news-bad news week for Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers. As one of the state’s most zealous officials when it comes to pushing for the death penalty, as documented in “Arapahoe County DA Charges Death-Penalty Fees to the State,” Alan Prendergast’s February 2008 feature, she was…

What makes Denver happy? Pot…

This afternoon, dozens of 16th Street Mall walkers had this experience: You’re walking along, sipping on a Frappucino and poking at your iPhone, trying to look busy and important enough so the panhandlers won’t bother you but unable to suppress a smile because of the gorgeous sun and the fact…

Christina Szele: Westword‘s favorite shmuck is back!

Bet you thought you’d seen the last of this face — or at least that you hoped you had… Christina Elizabeth Szele has been recognized as Westword’s Shmuck of the Week more often than anyone else. She first won this “honor” in June 2008, after an argument over a cigarette…

Prom, ganja and the smell test

Hard to ignore a press release with this headline: “Brighton High School Senior Excluded From Prom Because Her Date ‘Smelled Like Medical Marijuana.'” According to the release, the incident in question involved Brighton High senior Sarah Heideman, who wasn’t allowed to go to prom because her date, Jason Schweinsberg, allegedly…