A 45-year-old Katy, Texas, resident who allegedly confronted two brothers and a sister on the Keystone ski slopes has been charged with fighting in public and second-degree assault.
The Texas skier has been identified as Jie Zhang. He allegedly began swinging his ski poles at one of the brothers who came close to running into him on a beginner’s run at the resort.
Paulette Horr, spokeswoman for the Summit County Sheriff’s Department, said the 19-year-old boy didn’t collide with Zhang during the March 9 incident.
After being confronted, the 19-year-old, a Colorado resident, skied downhill to call the ski patrol from an emergency phone. He looked back up the hill, said Horr, and saw Zhang swinging a pole at his 16-year-old brother.
He hiked up the hill to help his brother and stayed with him until the ski patrol arrived. The brothers’ 22-year-old sister had stayed with the 16-year-old in an attempt to help him, said Horr.
Both brothers were hurt by the ski poles, and Zhang also was injured, although Horr didn’t know how.
The patrol took all the parties to Keystone Medical Center, where Summit County deputies responded to a disturbance call.
Horr said the details of the incident were corroborated by an off-duty Goshen, Wyo., deputy sheriff who witnessed the incident.
Zhang was arrested and released later in the evening.
A charge of second-degree assault is a Class 4 felony punishable by a fine of $2,000 to $500,000 and the possibility of two to six years in prison.
The charge of “disorderly conduct, fight in public” is a Class 3 misdemeanor punishable by a minimum sentence of a $50 fine and a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a fine of $750.
Zhang’s first court appearance is set for April 2.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
