Last Tuesday night began and ended very differently for two citizens of our beloved city. For officer Karen Miller, the evening began with coffee at a coffee shop on Drake and Lemay for the beginning of her night shift. For CSU student Anthony Wells, it began bar-hopping in Old Town. Wells’ and Miller’s evenings intersected a few minutes before midnight near the Andersonville neighborhood of East Fort Collins. As officer Miller recounted, “We (the police) were called about a car stopped at a green light on the Northbound lane of Lemay Avenue at the intersection of Vine Drive. I turned on the blue lights, and what did I see: A 2010 VW Jetta with the driver asleep at the wheel! A nearby resident told us that a train had been passing on the tracks, and that the driver fell asleep as the train maneuvered. It didn’t take long for us to find out that the subject was clearly what we would call legally drunk- you know, from the booze-stink vomit on the dashboard.”
With the help of backup officers, Miller manhandled the driver whom the officer soon enough identified as being 22-year old Anthony Wells, of Fort Collins, out of his vehicle, cuffing him and placing him in the back of officer Miller’s squad car. What ensued was a surreal and non-sensical rambling of an imbecile that amazingly didn’t get better even after Mr. Wells got sober. As officer Miller recalled, after dropping Mr. Wells off at the Larimer County Jail, “He just kept on mumbling something about white privilege. Well, he’s gonna find out pretty quick in the sneezer that being white doesn’t free you from being drunk… or dumb.”
At a hung-over jailhouse interview, Mr. Wells, who is a student majoring in Ethnic Studies at Colorado State University seethed, “What on earth is this?! I can’t believe it! I got arrested?! This can’t happen-only people of color get arrested! All I did was drink one too many tequilas and shit. This is so unjust! I hereby invoke my Constitutionally-guaranteed right to white privilege! WHITE PRIVILEGE, WHITE PRIVILEGE!” Jail guards quickly subdued him saying, “Save it for the judge.”
After the defendant posted bond, reporter Ludwig Schnee continued the interview with Mr. Wells, offering him an aspirin and some water. “Yeah, totally. I can’t believe the audacity of these police! How dare they arrest me? I’m like totally gonna get a lawyer for my court hearing, and I’m gonna plead not guilty by reason of race. Let’s see a jury convict me! I don’t care if my blood alcohol level was .21. That doesn’t stop me from being a white male- the top of the heap, baby! Oh, say… can you lend me $250 to get my car back? It got towed or something.” Your reporter politely declined.
In other law-enforcement news, the City of Fort Collins has hired Jeffrey Swoboda, who previously worked as chief of police in Elgin, IL, as the new permanent Chief of Police. He will be replacing interim Chief of Police Terry Jones, who previously worked as a comic, best known for his role in the Monty Python comedy troupe. The Focopolitan Tribune was unable to reach Jeffrey Swoboda, but we did reach Mr. Jones. Asked to comment on his looming transition, Jones replied, “And now, for something completely different.” And then he played John Phillip Souza’s “Liberty Bell March.”
ALL SUSPECTS ARE CONSIDERED INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW
