One More For The Road

[{"type":"text","text":"Q: Do you feel this vehicle is safe for highway travel?"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A: Yes, I do. Yes, I really do....."}]

One more for 9 25 24

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>One More For The Road: Wednesday, September 25, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Q: Do you feel this vehicle is safe for highway travel?
A: Yes, I do. Yes, I really do.....

One More For The Road: Wednesday, September 25, 2024

 Q: Do you feel this vehicle is safe for highway travel? A: Yes, I do. Yes, I really do.....

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

A Riverton woman whose hands were bleeding sat trapped behind the wheel of a car outside a Catholic church Saturday morning while a stranger wearing only a white bathrobe lay across her body, according to a charging affidavit filed in Fremont County Circuit Court by Riverton Police Sgt. Charles Marshall.

The bizarre scene unfolded in broad daylight outside St. Margaret's Catholic Church and the parish school where a passerby spotted what she believed was a woman in trouble and flagged down police.

By Monday afternoon, Christopher Adkins was sitting in court facing three felony charges — kidnapping, robbery and aggravated burglary.

If convicted on the most serious charge, Adkins could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Court records show Adkins made his initial appearance Monday and is being held on a $10,000 cash-only bond. He has not entered a plea. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 16.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'The Lady In The Car Needed Help'"}]

Officers were dispatched shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday to St. Margaret's Catholic Church on East Fremont Avenue for a report of a possible domestic dispute, wrote Marshall. 

When they arrived, a woman pointed toward a white passenger vehicle parked beside the church and school and immediately told the officer the woman inside needed help.

[{"type":"text","text":"Marshall sprinted toward the vehicle."}]

The officer wrote that he found the driver's-side door open and observed a man later identified as Adkins "clad in a white bath robe, laying across a female that was seated in the front driver seat of the car."

The man was talking to the woman, though Marshall wrote he could not understand what was being said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Marshall grabbed Adkins and pulled him from the vehicle."}]

The officer said he immediately took him to the ground and placed him in handcuffs.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'He Was Going To Kill Me'"}]

The woman told investigators she was at the church to place flowers inside.

While she was entering the combination code to the door, she was approached by an unknown male, later identified as Adkins, telling her he needed inside. 

She said Adkins was "talking non-stop," according to court records, "and she got concerned and did not feel comfortable letting him inside the church." 

[{"type":"text","text":"Then the woman went back to her car and got inside. "}]

"As she went to put the key in the ignition and shut her door," says the affidavit, Adkins got into the car and immediately "grabbed for her keys." 

She told investigators she was assaulted by Adkins for about 15 minutes before police showed up. She sustained a 1-inch gash to her index finger during the scuffle that ultimately required stitches.

At one point, according to the affidavit, she told investigators, "I thought he was going to kill me." 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Charges Carry Decades Behind Bars"}]

"Based on the investigation," wrote Marshall, "Adkins entered a vehicle without authorization and physically assaulted the vehicle owner by cutting her right index finger while attempting to get the keys away from her."

He continued, "Adkins unlawfully confined the vehicle owner from being able to leave, inflicting bodily injury and terrorizing the victim in the process." 

Adkins was booked into the Fremont County Detention Center on Sunday; the affidavit made publicly available in the court system on June 8. 

The felony offense of kidnapping is a serious crime with the possible sentence of 20 years to life in prison. 

Both the robbery and aggravated burglary charges carry a potential sentence up to 10 years in prison for each count. 

St Margarets Church 6 9 26

<title>Man In Bathrobe Accused Of Trying To Kidnap Woman From Riverton Church Parking Lot | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Riverton man in a bathrobe could spend life in prison after police say they found him lying on top of a bleeding woman in a church parking lot in an alleged attempted kidnapping. "I thought he was going to kill me,” the woman told police.

Man In Bathrobe Accused Of Trying To Kidnap Woman From Riverton Church Parking Lot

A barefoot Michigan man accused of threatening two women, smashing windows and running from police through downtown Jackson allegedly told officers, "Please just kill me," moments before a foot chase that ended with him being tased.

Kadin James Decker, 24, made his initial appearance in Teton County Circuit Court on Monday afternoon after being charged with two counts of property destruction and one count of interference with a peace officer.

An affidavit filed by Jackson Police Officer Liam Fowler shows the incident unfolded shortly before midnight June 5 in the heart of Jackson's busy downtown district.

[{"type":"text","text":"Foot Chase Thru Townsquare"}]

Court records show a flurry of 911 calls came in shortly after Decker, his girlfriend and another woman spent part of the evening drinking at Jackson's Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.

Dispatchers told officers a shirtless man wearing black shorts and no shoes was yelling in the street near Jackson's Town Square. Callers reported the man had access to a firearm and was threatening to shoot people and himself.

When Fowler arrived, he found Decker walking eastbound near East Broadway and South King Street.

The officer noted Decker appeared to be bleeding from multiple injuries and had a large cut above his right elbow.

Fowler said he activated his emergency lights, stepped from his patrol vehicle and ordered Decker to stop.

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead, Decker looked toward the officer and replied:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Please just kill me.\""}]

What followed was a foot pursuit through downtown Jackson as officers tried to catch the 6-foot-4, 220-pound man.

[{"type":"text","text":"Police say Decker repeatedly ignored commands to stop."}]

Officer Chase Decker — no relation to the defendant — eventually joined the pursuit. The affidavit says officers warned Decker several times that he would be tased if he continued running.

[{"type":"text","text":"He allegedly kept going."}]

Even after being tased, police say Decker continued resisting commands before finally being taken into custody.

[{"type":"text","text":"Broken Window And Threat"}]

Court records suggest the trouble began sometime after Decker and his girlfriend, Lucy Wadaga, spent part of the evening in downtown Jackson, including a stop at the Cowboy Bar.

Witnesses told police Decker became increasingly agitated and emotional as the night wore on.

After the women left the Cowboy Bar and returned to their car parked near East Broadway, Decker allegedly followed them and began shouting profanities.

Decker threatened to kill his girlfriend and repeatedly referenced having access to a gun, wrote Fowler.

The confrontation escalated when Decker reportedly punched the passenger-side window out, shattering the glass and scattering debris onto the street.

Witnesses described his demeanor as volatile and unpredictable. One told police Decker could appear calm and apologetic one moment before abruptly becoming angry and destructive the next.

After smashing the window, investigators say Decker crossed East Broadway and punched the glass door of Jackson Hole's Old Time Photos.

The damage to the vehicle and storefront was estimated to exceed $1,000, forming the basis for the two felony property destruction charges.

[{"type":"text","text":"Gun Recovered After Arrest"}]

Several witnesses reported hearing Decker make references to having a gun.

One woman told investigators she was particularly alarmed because Decker had access to a firearm inside their vehicle.

She said as she positioned herself between Decker and the car, she feared he might retrieve the weapon.

After Decker was arrested, officers searched the car and recovered a Sig Sauer P365 pistol from a black fanny pack.

The handgun contained a loaded magazine but did not have a round chambered, says the affidavit. 

Court records show he was released from custody June 8 after posting a $5,000 cash or surety bond.

As conditions of his release, Decker is prohibited from contacting the two women identified as victims in the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","text":"He is also barred from returning to Jackson Hole's Old Time Photos. "}]

The court did not require Decker to remain in Teton County, allowing him to return to Michigan as the criminal case moves forward.

Million dollar cowboy 6 9 26

<title>Michigan Tourist Accused Of Drunken Window-Smashing Rampage In Downtown Jackson | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Police say a drunken, shirtless, barefoot Michigan man threatened two women, smashed storefront windows and led authorities on a foot chase in downtown Jackson last week before getting tased. Court documents say he threatened to shoot people and himself.

Michigan Tourist Accused Of Drunken Window-Smashing Rampage In Downtown Jackson

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

 after a tense standoff sued the City of Casper and several police officers Friday, saying officers wrongfully killed her son and the city failed to train officers to avoid rights violations. 

Brenda Cothron filed a civil complaint in the federal U.S. District Court for Wyoming through her attorney, Christopher King of Worland. 

It hinges on the June 6, 2024, death of Cothron’s son Trae Spurlock, at an apartment complex in the 5,000 block of PayIt Forward Drive in Casper. 

Spurlock had had a tense encounter with police, whom he claimed to be in his home unlawfully, while police tried to investigate a report that Spurlock had shoved his girlfriend and thrown some keys at her earlier. 

It ended with an escalation, in which Spurlock, sitting near a rifle, said he wasn’t afraid of “death by cop.” He made a quick movement; an officer tased him, and he fell. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Here the facts become uncertain. "}]

The officer who had tased Spurlock switched to his handgun and shot at Spurlock seven times, striking him six times. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Police rendered aid, but Spurlock died. "}]

The prosecutor who investigated the case, Natrona County District Attorney Daniel Itzen, wrote in his October 2024 decision letter that 

 doesn’t reveal whether Spurlock had been reaching for his own rifle at that time. 

The shooting officer told another officer on scene that Spurlock had been reaching for the rifle. 

if he had decided to prosecute the officer who shot Spurlock that night, the evidence would not have carried his case.  

Cothron’s lawsuit accuses the involved officers of violating Spurlock’s constitutional rights. 

It asserts that the officers were not provoked, and that the officer who fired on Spurlock while the latter was on the ground lacked a “lawful or justifiable reason.” 

The complaint alleges that the officers “knowingly” violated the law “when they caused Trae Spurlock’s unwarranted and excruciating physical and mental anguish and death.” 

Its second cause of action accuses the city of failing to train its officers, and having customs or policies that led to officers allegedly violating Spurlock’s rights. 

The complaint also claims the officers caused a wrongful death, that the civil defendants owe Spurlock’s mother and estate damages for causing harm, as well as costs and attorney fees. 

Cothron’s lawsuit complaint notes that officers entered Spurlock’s home without a warrant. 

“They could have left the apartment,” wrote King. “If they were determined to arrest Trae Spurlock they could have obtained a warrant, they could have simply waited until the following day and served Trae Spurlock with a citation. There was no-one in danger. There was no reason for the Officers to continue to escalate the situation.” 

A rifle had been sitting on the balcony along with Spurlock when police met him, the complaint concedes. But it alleges that Spurlock did not control the rifle during the incident. 

[{"type":"text","text":"A Little More Background"}]

Multiple Casper Police Department officers responded to the apartment about 9:30 p.m. that evening and spoke with two women – one of them Spurlock’s girlfriend – who said Spurlock shoved her and threw keys at her, according to official reports on the incident. 

Officers knocked at the apartment door, and Spurlock didn’t answer. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The girlfriend offered them the keys. "}]

Officers pointed their flashlights at the living room and balcony, and spotted Spurlock, shirtless and sitting in a camp chair, on the balcony, with an AR-style rifle at his feet.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Someone flicked on a light."}]

Spurlock opened the sliding glass door and said “get out of my house.”

Officers said they were there to ensure the girlfriend was safe as she gathered her things.

Spurlock said they were trespassing and he could shoot them. There was a back-and-forth as to whether he could do that, Itzen’s decision letter notes.

“I don’t care,” said Spurlock, according to the letter. “Death by cop doesn’t sound too bad. What do you want?”

One officer started talking about whether Spurlock had shoved his girlfriend, and Spurlock said he had, says the letter. 

The shooting officer also tried to get Spurlock to come in from the balcony, away from the gun, but Spurlock refused, and noted he was feet away from the rifle, the letter says.

Itzen wrote that the girlfriend had told officers prior she knew of him having three guns: two rifles and a pistol usually kept in the truck.

Spurlock reached behind a wall, picked up a mason jar and drank out of it. Authorities later found his blood-alcohol level to be 0.267%, says the letter.

Officers kept trying to coax Spurlock away from the rifle.

He stepped into the apartment by a couple feet, and shut the door about halfway, leaving enough room for a person to get out.

“I’m not going to jail tonight. That’s why that f***ing rifle is there. I’m not going to f***ing jail tonight,” he said. “Either death by cop or not, I’ve been in plenty of firefights in my life. I’m not afraid of another one.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He added, “Take that as you will.”"}]

Spurlock told the officers he was highly proficient with a rifle, and if he wanted, the officers would already be dead, the letter and incident video note. The officers spoke with him for about 13 minutes,

Ultimately, the officer moved in to arrest Spurlock for domestic assault. Spurlock shook his head and refused to be handcuffed.

The officer already had his taser drawn then, the letter says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"To The Door"}]

Spurlock opened the sliding glass door and made a quick movement to the balcony.

The officer discharged his taser for a little more than three seconds.

Itzen wasn’t sure, in his letter, if Spurlock fell down then because of the taser or because he tripped.

At some point the officer dropped the taser and switched to his handgun.

He shot seven times, striking Spurlock six of those times, says the letter.

Police started life-saving measures, but Spurlock died.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘Not Going To Jail’ "}]

Itzen said this evidence wasn’t enough to carry a case against the shooting officer through the justice system. 

“As you are aware, the State of Wyoming must prove each element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” wrote Itzen in his letter, which was addressed to a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent. “By Spurlock’s own words, he admitted the rifle was out because he – Spurlock – was not going to jail. What that ultimately means is unknown, be it suicide or a shoot-out with law enforcement.”

Police were at the apartment due to Spurlock’s own “criminal activity” and were there at the invitation of the leaseholder and for a civil standby, says the letter.

Officers tried to deescalate the situation.

“Once it was clear to Spurlock he was going to jail, he made a quick movement to the area where the rifle was located,” wrote Itzen. “The State would fail in meeting its burden of proof in this case.”

For those reasons, “the State declines (to charge) this case,” wrote Itzen. “Should new facts or circumstances come to light, this decision can be revisited.”

The Casper City Attorney’s Office did not comment by publication. 

Casper officer shooting uncooperative 6 17 24

<title>Mother Of Man Who Suggested "Death By Cop" Sues Casper | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The mother of a man who was fatally shot by police after a tense standoff sued the City of Casper and police officers, saying officers wrongfully killed her son and the city failed to train officers to avoid rights violations. 

Mother Of Man Who Suggested "Death By Cop" Sues Casper

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Public Safety

BAGGS — Waking up in this usually sleepy town of 411 people Tuesday morning, you wouldn’t know that only eight hours earlier it was the scene of a major multi-state response to an active shooter that ended with a Carbon County Sheriff’s Office deputy shot multiple times and a dead suspect.

As late as 10 p.m. Monday, the initial crime scene ­— a nondescript off-yellow, two-story apartment building — was surrounded by dozens of law enforcement vehicles and crime-scene tape a stone’s throw from southbound Wyoming Highway 789.

Along with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, the Wyoming Highway Patrol, Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, Rawlins Police Department and at least a half-dozen other agencies from Wyoming and northern Colorado had responded.

[{"type":"text","text":"By 6 a.m. Tuesday, it was business as usual around Baggs — almost."}]

Folks were up early and in their heavy-duty trucks on their way to job sites, the pickups dusty in a way that says they work as hard as their drivers.

They did their usual rounds, stopping for breakfast, coffee, and a little gossip to start the day.

On Tuesday, there was little gossip as conversations were dominated by Monday’s deadly incident.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘It’s Just What We Do’"}]

Now in her 80s, Linda Fleming grew up in Baggs and has lived her life teaching generations of local kids, along with serving a stint as the town’s mayor in the 1980s.

She called Monday’s deadly shootout “something tragic” that also highlights the hero spirit of first responders, along with the neighbors who helped the deputy after being shot multiple times until an ambulance could arrive.

“The most immediate (heroes) were the neighbors who rallied for that deputy,” she told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday morning.

Inquiries to the Carbon County Sheriff’s and coroner’s offices for more information about Monday’s shooting were not returned by the time this story was published. That includes the condition of the deputy and the identification and cause of death of the suspected shooter.

Fleming said she’s not surprised regular people reportedly sprang into action to help the deputy, along with local EMS that was at the scene quickly.

“It’s just what we do,” she said. “We don’t have any local police, so people help and don’t give it a second thought.”

She also said that while violent episodes like Monday’s have become rare for Baggs, that wasn’t always the case.

“I was mayor in the ’80s when we had a pretty serious drug problem at that time,” Fleming said. “But we didn’t have anything like the shooting of a police officer.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Usual Suspects"}]

At the Stage Stop General Store, the usual suspects were in their usual places, sipping coffee from the four stools at the front of the store by the checkout counter.

Like clockwork, as one of the “old geezers” — as one described the group — got up and left, another filtered in to take the empty stool.

The usual gossip was replaced Tuesday with talk about the shooting, the manhunt for the suspect, and then the ultimate ending with a deputy flown to a Colorado hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and a dead suspect.

“I’m reading about it right now on Cowboy State Daily,” said the local on the far end, holding up his phone.

They’re all talkers, until asked their names. “Oh, gee, I guess I forgot it,” one silver-haired coffee drinker quipped, making them all laugh.

What they weren’t vague about was their shock over what happened, and the resulting hourslong shelter-in-place order that shut down the town.

It was the same at the Cowboy Inn Restaurant, where server Brett Ferrier said a full dining room of customers was not allowed to leave.

She also echoed Fleming’s sentiment that she’s not surprised the deputy may owe his life to those fast-acting neighbors.

“This is the best place I’ve lived,” said Ferrier, adding that she moved to the area just last September. “These are real neighbors, they have your back and they’re so welcoming.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Little We Know"}]

Nearly 24 hours after local residents were notified via text message of an “active assailant in Baggs area. Please shelter in place,” there’s still little information about a possible motive for the shooting and the condition of the deputy.

In a late-night report Monday, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken confirmed that “the suspect opened fire on the initial responding deputy, striking him several times.”

The suspect then “fled the scene in a small truck,” the report says. “Additional responding deputies and troopers with the Wyoming Highway Patrol engaged in a pursuit with the suspect vehicle on Highway 789 north of Baggs.”

During the pursuit, the suspect again “opened fire on law enforcement … before driving off the highway and coming to a stop.”

The report then says that the suspect “was declared deceased at the scene,” but it’s not clear how the suspect died or if anything happened between the time the vehicle came to a stop and the suspect was declared dead.

“Please keep our injured deputy and their family in your thoughts and prayers,” the report ends.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Blue Wall"}]

Law enforcement agencies around Wyoming are doing just that, posting messages of support and sympathy for the injured Carbon County deputy and the sheriff’s office. A sampling of those:

 “Please keep all the first responders in Carbon County in your prayers and specifically for the deputy who was shot yesterday in Baggs.”

 “The Wyoming law enforcement community is a small one and today our hearts are with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office.”

 “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the injured deputy, they’re loved ones, and the entire Carbon County Sheriff’s Office following yesterday’s tragic incident.

“Moments like these are a stark reminder of the dangers law enforcement officers face in service to their communities. We ask everyone to keep the deputy, their family, and all those affected in their thoughts during this incredibly difficult time.”

Closer to home, Baggs residents like Fleming and Ferrier are shocked, but not disheartened by Monday’s violence.

“Our little community of Little Snake River was put into lockdown cause of an active shooter,” posted Stacy Overton to Facebook. “Our community is shaken (by) the recent events of today.”

Meanwhile, what looked like a scene from an action movie set most of the day and night Monday appeared virtually normal by Tuesday morning.

Gone was the small fleet of law enforcement vehicles representing multiple jurisdictions, along with the fire engines and crime scene tape.

At least most of it, with one string of yellow tape still visible at the property. The small army that had responded the day before was reduced to one Carbon County deputy standing at the perimeter of the scene.

At the Cowboy Inn, Ferrier was too busy Tuesday to think much about the previous day’s excitement. The lunch rush was coming.

This is a developing story that will be updated as more information on Monday’s active shooter incident is available from authorities.

Baggs green sign inset

<title>Deadly Shootout In Baggs, Wyoming: Neighbors Helped Deputy After Shot By Suspect | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The day after a gunfight that left a deputy shot and the suspect dead in Baggs, Wyoming, former mayor Linda Fleming said it's no surprise neighbors rushed to help the fallen deputy. “It's just what we do. People don’t give it a second thought," she said.

Deadly Shootout In Baggs, Wyoming: Neighbors Helped Deputy After Shot By Suspect

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

After a string of 90+ degree days, snow is heading for Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday. Meteorologist Don Day says all of Wyoming should expect cooler than usual weather in the next two weeks. “This is just continued weirdness,” Day said.

One More For The Road: Wednesday, September 25, 2024

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