Two Florida brothers claim they were acting in self-defense during a Steamboat Springs brawl that resulted in the death of Sgt. 1st Class Richard Lopez, a decorated combat veteran who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The two men were identified only as “Eddie” and “David” by their Denver attorney, Charles Feldmann, who said Wednesday that the men traveled to Steamboat Springs during the New Year holidays on a family ski vacation.
According to the brothers, they were at the Tap House Sports Grill, 729 Lincoln Ave., into the morning of Jan. 2, when Eddie and his wife, along with David and his girlfriend, “attempted to flee the increasingly hostile environment” in the bar.
The brothers claim that bar patrons “were beginning to take and place bets on the brewing altercation with three physically imposing and highly trained members” of the U.S. military, including a paratrooper and special forces sergeant.
Feldmann claimed that outside the front entrance of the Tap House just after midnight, the two brothers were cornered and attacked by the three military men, who they said were looking for a fight.
“Eddie and David were not the initial aggressors in this physical confrontation,” Feldmann said. “Eddie and David did not provoke this attack. Eddie and David defended themselves and defended their wife and girlfriend from being attacked.”
The men and their acquaintances fled the brief “but intense” physical confrontation by taking a taxi from the scene, said the lawyer. They later learned, Feldmann claimed, that Lopez slipped and fell on the ice and was badly injured as a result of the fall.
Steamboat Springs police Capt. Joel Rae reacted strongly Wednesday afternoon to the defense statement.
“The Steamboat Springs Police Department continues to conduct a thorough investigation concerning the death of Richard Lopez,” Rae said. “We are not — not — basing our investigation on what four individuals have said to a defense attorney.
“In the end, we are confident that justice will be served and the suspect responsible will be held accountable by law.”
Rae said that District Attorney-elect Elizabeth Oldham, who will take office next week, is being kept fully informed on developments in the case.
Michael Dobersen, the Arapahoe County coroner who performed the autopsy on Lopez, said Wednesday that it appears Lopez was struck in the jaw — where a laceration or tearing was clearly visible — and that after he was punched, he fell backward in “an unprotected fall.”
Dobersen said the Routt County coroner has classified Lopez’s death as a homicide.
Shortly after the incident, Rae said the dispute began when Lopez played a Jimmy Buffett song on the bar’s jukebox, identified by Lopez’s relatives as “Margaritaville.”
Rae said Lopez obviously was enjoying the song, which upset the two other patrons. The pair made disparaging remarks about the song’s selection, and the argument escalated on the street at Lincoln Avenue and 7th Street, some distance from the bar.
Lopez, of Fayetteville, N.C., was at the Tap House with brothers Timothy and Wes Mottlau, who grew up in the Steamboat Springs area.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
