Dawn North says her 23-year-old son was “straight and sober” Monday night a half-hour before he led a Grand County sheriff’s deputy on a chase, collided in his vehicle with the cruiser and was shot three times.
Authorities have said Christopher David Galgarn was likely drunk. His mother said he has a history of mental illness. Galgarn endured 11 hours of surgery Monday night and may never walk again, North said.
“He’s only 5-feet-5 and weighs 150 pounds,” said his mother, reached at St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver on Tuesday evening.
“I just don’t know what my son could have done to make (the deputy) feel so threatened that he had to put three bullets in him.”
Galgarn left the Granby home he shares with his mother to return a rented video, she said.
A deputy near Tabernash saw Galgarn swerving as he drove south on U.S. 40, Sheriff Rod Johnson said in a news release.
After a chase, the cruiser hit Galgarn’s car, causing it to stop.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Galgarn got out and confronted the deputy, who shot him at least three times.
The deputy’s name has not been released.
North said hospital tests haven’t shown any evidence of drugs or alcohol in her son’s system, and he was unarmed.
“He has a bullet hole clean through his hand,” she said. “They believe he was holding his hand out in front of him defending himself.”
Tests were conducted Tuesday to determine whether doctors would try to remove bullets that are lodged in his neck and stomach.
North said her son has had bouts of schizophrenia induced by drugs but said he has not used drugs in three years. He holds down a good job installing security systems, audio equipment and telephone lines, she said.
“There was a huge, huge, huge meltdown; something very tragic has happened,” she said. “I’m shocked. I’m at a loss.”
She said her son sometimes loses his temper. Awhile back, someone hit his work truck in the post office parking lot in Granby; he got so upset that it took four police officers to restrain him, North said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
