A 24-year-old Granby electrician received probation Monday for a traffic violation in October that prompted a sheriff’s deputy to chase him 11 miles into Tabernash, rear-end his car to disable it, then shoot at him nine times.
Christopher Dalgarn was shot by Grand County Sheriff’s Deputy Rochalle Rooks in the neck, stomach, hip and hand. Dalgarn now is paralyzed from the chest down.
Just hours before he was sentenced in Grand County Court in Hot Sulphur Springs, attorneys Steve Peters and Karen Steinhauser filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court in Denver on Dalgarn’s behalf, claiming the the deputy and the department violated his constitutional rights with excessive force and unreasonable seizure.
On the night of Oct. 6, a telephone caller to the Granby dispatch center complained that Dalgarn was driving east on U.S. 40 and had crossed over the double-yellow line, nearly hitting her. Dalgarn continued east when Rooks began chasing him.
Rooks attempted a “pit maneuver” by rear-ending Dalgarn. Once stopped, both men got out of their cars. From there, their stories diverged.
Rooks claimed Dalgarn charged him after the accident and tried to take his gun away. Dalgarn denied ever attacking the deputy.
Dalgarn, who suffers from schizophrenia, was charged with two felonies of vehicular eluding and criminal attempt to disarm a police officer and a misdemeanor of reckless driving. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted vehicular assault.
“The judge said Dalgarn was sentenced only for the infraction in Granby, that no criminal behavior on his part transpired east of town,” said attorney Peters.
Dalgarn now lives with his mother, Dawn North, in Greeley. She said he wasn’t on his medications the night of the shooting.
Rooks was placed on administrative duty for three months until he was cleared by Grand County District Attorney Elizabeth Oldham.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
