A decorated Green Beret killed in a New Year’s Day fight was the victim of a vicious assault by a Miami man and his brother, according to arrest-warrant affidavits filed Monday in Steamboat Springs.
According to multiple witnesses, Sgt. 1st Class Richard Lopez was crossing a street in Steamboat Springs when Eduardo “Eddie” Capote Jr., 27, took a running start and hit Lopez with a “sucker punch.”
The witnesses said that Lopez was knocked cold and as he lay there, he was repeatedly kicked and punched.
When two of Lopez’s friends — brothers Timothy and Michael Mottlau — attempted to cover Lopez’s body with their own, they also were kicked and punched by Capote and his brother, David, 23, according to the witnesses.
The assault was partially captured on a cellphone video.
The incident started at the Tap House Sports Grill after Michael Mottlau selected one of his favorite Jimmy Buffett songs, “Margaritaville,” on the bar’s jukebox.
Witnesses said Eddie Capote heckled Mottlau about the song choice and that Capote challenged the trio to a fight in an alley. But the Capote brothers’ two female companions and the bar staff talked the men out of fighting.
The Capote party of four then left the bar, followed shortly by Lopez and the Mottlaus.
Witnesses said Eddie and David Capote ambushed Lopez and the Mottlaus about a block away.
Lopez died a couple of days later of severe head trauma, including a fractured skull.
Steamboat Springs District Attorney Elizabeth Oldham said Eddie Capote was charged with felony second-degree assault on Lopez and third-degree assault against the Mottlaus, whom Lopez was visiting over the holidays in Steamboat.
Eddie Capote has been released on a $10,000 bond.
David Capote, also of Miami, is charged with two counts of third-degree assault on the Mottlau brothers. He is out on a $1,500 bond.
Oldham said that if convicted of second-degree assault, Eddie Capote could face a sentence of 5 to 16 years in prison.
