A South Carolina truck driver was arrested Tuesday night at the northbound Port of Entry weigh station on Interstate 25 in Fort Collins after holding two state employees hostage at knife point.
The trucker was identified as Samuel Ervin Brown, 49, of Columbia, S.C.
This is the first incident of its kind to ever occur at a Port of Entry station in Colorado, said Mark Couch, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Revenue. The revenue department operates the Port of Entry stations.
“It is a first. It is really scary for the staff,” said Couch.
No one was injured. Couch said that the Port of Entry staff are meeting today with victim advocates from the Fort Collins Police Department.
The two male employees were taken hostage about 9:40 p.m. Tuesday after issuing Brown a citation and instructing him to park his truck until 7 a.m. today.
The incident lasted about 10 minutes before Brown was taken into custody by Fort Collins police, according to Rita Davis, spokesperson for the police department.
Couch said he could not specifically comment on the citation given Brown because of privacy protection afforded truck drivers by law.
“But what I can say is one reason for a truck driver to be told to park his truck is because he is over his allowed hours of drive time,” said Couch. “Under federal law they are allowed to drive just so much.”
“These folks (at the Port of Entries) are on the front lines,” Couch added. “They are there to protect the public safety. The drivers need to be sufficiently rested. The Port of Entry employees perform a very important public safety function.”
Brown is being held at the Larimer County Detention Center for investigation of two counts of kidnapping.
Under current federal regulations, there are two cumulative driving time rules – one allows truck drivers to drive 60 hours in seven consecutive days; the second allows them to drive 70 hours in eight consecutive days.
To restart the 60 or 70 hour clock, they must have at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty. No driver is allowed to drive more than 11 cumulative hours following 10 consecutive hours off.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
