Off-duty police officer pulls weapon after traffic altercation

    An off-duty Commerce City police officer told Brighton police that he pulled his off-duty weapon on another man, following a Nov. 6 traffic altercation.
    According to a police report. The 29-year-old officer, a Brighton resident, told police that the incident started about 8 p.m. as he was headed east on Bridge Street, near 27th Avenue.
    He said an unidentified man in a black Pontiac pulled alongside him, revved his engine as if to indicate he wanted to race. He said the man did this three times. Both parties rolled down their windows and the officer told the man, “I don’t give a (expletive) about your car. Leave me alone.”
    He said the man then followed him when he turned onto 42nd Avenue. Eventually, the officer pulled his SUV over and the man in the Pontiac also got out of his vehicle. A confrontation ensued and, as the man advanced on the officer, he grabbed his off-duty weapon and held it in a low-ready position as he warned the man to not come any closer. The officer also produced his badge and threatened to arrest the man.
    The man allegedly told the officer, “I’ve seen where you live. I’ll see you again.”
    The officer took this as a threat and planned to arrest the man, later identified as a 24-year-old Lochbuie man, but he got back in his vehicle and drove away.
    Brighton police contacted Lochbuie police who knew the man involved in the incident from previous issues. When Brighton police went to his home, the man did not answer.
    However, he did eventually call police and present a contrary side to the story. He painted the officer as the aggressor in the incident and said the officer had even ordered the man to follow him in his vehicle. He said he thought the officer was pretending to be a police officer and the man didn’t identify himself as a police officer until the end of the altercation. He did admit that he continued to approach the officer after he was ordered to stop.
    The officer did not want to press charges and no arrests were made in the incident.