Several drivers who saw a 9Wants To Know investigation about a Doug las County coroner’s investigator say they, too, were pulled over by a suspicious-acting man who was driving an unmarked emergency vehicle.
Investigator Rick Nanney resigned Thursday, a day after admitting to 9Wants to Know that he performed a traffic stop, but should not have done it.
Coroner’s office employees do not have the power to enforce traffic laws anywhere in Colorado.
Prosecutors have not decided whether to follow a recommendation from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office that Nanney be charged with impersonating a police officer, which is a felony. Investigators also recommended misdemeanor charges of official misconduct and false imprisonment.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Cocha Heyden said authorities are aware of only one incident involving Nanney.
Two drivers claiming similar encounters contacted 9Wants to Know.
“When I saw that truck, it was like, ‘That’s the truck,’ ” Patrick Williams of Castle Rock said. ” ‘That’s the guy.’ ”
Williams said he was pulled over by an unmarked pickup with emergency lights four or five months ago as he was speeding on Jackson Creek Road in Sedalia.
Nanney lives nearby and authorities say the same road was the site of the incident originally reported to police on Aug. 18.
“He didn’t tell me how fast he was going. He didn’t ask me how fast I was going. He didn’t ask me for my ID, proof of insurance, registration on the vehicle. He didn’t ask me for any of that,” Williams said. “He just walked up to my car and I rolled down my window and he told me I need to slow it down next time. And I said, ‘Can I see your ID and your badge?’ “
The man grew nervous, Williams said, offering him a brief warning about speeding before letting him leave.
“That seemed kind of fishy to me that he didn’t have his badge on him,” Williams said.
Williams dismissed the incident as a run-in with an off-duty officer and did not report it to police.
Coroners are considered peace officers, but Nanney acted outside his authority during the Aug. 18 incident, Heyden said.
Additional details about that traffic stop are not being released because the case has been referred to prosecutors.
Nanney spoke briefly with 9Wants To Know investigative reporter Kyle Clark at his front door on Wednesday. Nanney acknowledged making the traffic stop and when asked to explain, said, “There were other circumstances that were provoked by that.”
Asked if this was the first time he had used a coroner’s vehicle to make a traffic stop, Nanney declined to comment. He also refused to say why he stopped the other driver.
Nanney, 52, had worked as a coroner’s investigator for four years.
“He’s no rookie,” Douglas County coroner Wes Riber said.
Riber declined to discuss the case, saying it would be disrespectful to the prosecutors’ decision-making process.
