Posted on 08/11/2020 6:25:25 AM PDT by real saxophonist
People showed up looking for a fight Fort Collins Chief to announce more charges in weekend brawl
by: Alex Rose
Aug 10, 2020
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (KDVR) Fort Collins Police Chief Jeff Swodoba spent the weekend looking at viral videos of a dozen men brawling in a ditch about a block away from his stations headquarters.
These werent kids after a high school game that were just excited and getting into a fight, these are grown men you know getting in a fight, Chief Swoboda said. Its sad for the community. Sad for individuals who do that kind of stuff.
What started as a pro-police rally on Saturday got heated, as counter protestors and rally goers escalated conversations into confrontations.
The chief says there were aggressors on both sides.
You do see one group pushing another group, telling them to leave and they cant be there, well thats not their place, Swoboda said. Theyre not the arbiters of who can be there and who cant.
So far, three people have been arrested, and another cited for the incident, but the chief says more charges are coming after people came forward with information and video to help investigators in the case.
People showed up, they were looking for a fight. They show up with brass knuckles, knives, guns, fireworks, OC Spray, they got a Kevlar vest on, Swoboda said.
Multiple sources tell the Problem Solvers a counter protestor pepper sprayed a disabled veteran, which triggered the brawl. The chief confirms hearing those reports, but cant confirm thats exactly what happened.
The department is still investigating what triggered the scuffle.
The chief says safety for his officers was a top priority during the rally, and they responded as soon as they heard reports of the fight.
Standing with our backs to people who are armed, who are showing up to these events with bulletproof vests, its not safe to go in there and do that, Swoboda said.
Event organizers are planning another pro-police rally in Fort Collins this Friday. Swoboda hopes the focus is more on productive conversations between rally goers and protestors, which did take place last Saturday, before the fight broke out.
Simply putting on a t-shirt that says I support police, and then going out and breaking the laws and getting in fights, we dont want that kind of support, Swoboda said. We dont need it. Dont come.
Keep your mouths shut. Dont say a word to the cops.
Not one word.
L
If the police & gubmint will not protect citizens & property, the people will.
Because no matter what you say, there’s a bureaucrat or other opportunist hiding behind them waiting to sucker punch you for political gain.
The anti-police are the troublemakers.
Maybe if the cops had bothered to show up at the protest one block from the precinct in the first place.....
Plus the jerkwad “protestors’” future plans will most likely not include Fort Collins. Notice how that even in red states they pick the most liberal areas to throw their tantrums.
Look who politically controls Fort Collins. Democratic politicians protect Antifa and as in all places the “police chief” is a political creature.
Denver, Boulder and Ft. Collins are the reasons Colorado has become the trash heap it is today.
I don't know why anybody at this point still believes cops are the good guys.
They look more like Antifa than pro-police.
Maybe I’m reading him wrong, but it sounds like the chief can’t tell his friends from his enemies. I’m guessing the antifas won’t be the ones who end up in trouble.
Swoboda hopes the focus is more on productive conversations between rally goers and protestors, which did take place last Saturday, before the fight broke out.
Somebody get the memo to this guy that the time for productive conversation is long gone.
The police are there to enforce the law.
They are not there to judge.
Fort Collins is one of the towns Obama visited back in 2012.
You would have thought the GOP-e was on vacation considering their response.
Businesses were waiting for Romney-Ryan to show up.
They never did but for sure they hit us up for donations.
I’ll take the one in the middle please.
Why don't you stand up for rule of law. First, who had criminal intent here? Why don't you go after those guys. It's easy if you put principal above trying to go with the flow when you get run over by a tornado.
Well, there you have it. As far as the police are concerned, the pro-police people are the problem.
And that’s the main reason why I steer clear of such events. If one enters the fray the cops won’t necessarily err on the side of “but I had the best of intentions” would-be allies.
Yes they do. Maybe the whole thing was staged?
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