No charges will be filed in a road-rage and alleged hate speech incident that occured in Longmont mid-August, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
The Aug. 9 incident sparked community outrage and the creation of a GoFundMe page to tell the story of Honduran immigrant Jorge Rodriguez and to help him pay his medical bills.
The narrative on the GoFundMe page stated Rodriguez was pulled from his vehicle after being followed from a Hover Crossing liquor store toward Tulip and 18th streets, near Garden Acres Park. The GoFundMe page also stated the man who followed Rodriguez shouted “get out of our country.”
Longmont police conducted an investigation and turned their findings over to the DA’s office for review. The DA’s office investigated and reviewed security videos, photographs and eyewitness accounts, according to a news release.
“Based on the thorough investigation into this incident, the District Attorney’s Office will not be filing charges against either of the individuals involved in this altercation due to a credible self-defense claim,” the DA’s office stated in the release.
"In the days following the incident, there was a public perception of what transpired, including that the complaining witness (Rodriguez, who is identified only as J.R. in the release) had been followed by the suspect, pulled from his car ... and blinded in one eye due to an assault motivated by hate/bias. The perception ofthose facts has been determined, to a significant degree, to be inaccurate."
A presentation about the decision not to file charges can be viewed here.
During the investigation the DA’s office determined Rodriguez had purchased alcohol from a drive-thru window of the liquor store and stopped in the middle of the roadway, blocking the way. A red pickup truck stopped behind him and then made a U-turn out of the parking lot, and Rodriguez followed the truck out of the lot, according to the release.
The occupants of the red pickup truck pulled over in the Garden Acres Park area and “both men ... voluntarily exited their vehicles. Both men admitted to investigators that they did so, and independent eyewitnesses confirmed this fact,” the DA’s office stated.
After a brief altercation, witnesses observed Rodriguez pursuing the other man, which led to anotherl verbal and physical altercation. Rodriguez left the scene to go to a friend’s house. While he waited for her to arrive home he drank four to five beers but did not initially report the incident. Police were notified approximately four hours later, according to the release.
Rodriguez declined medical treatment when it was offered by the responding police officer. He later went to a local emergency room and was treated and released with a diagnosis of a nasal bone fracture and soft tissue contusion. At the hospital, there was no mention of an eye injury due to the assault, according to the release, and Rodriguez disclosed that he had suffered a debilitating eye injury as a child.
The other man involved suffered an injury to his mouth, as did his girlfriend, who tried to break up the fight, according to the DA's office.
