District Attorney Mark Hurlbert will not prosecute two rafting guides accused of interfering with the rescue of a 13-year-old girl on Clear Creek last month.
Clear Creek County sheriff’s deputies arrested guides Ryan Snodgrass, 28, and Justin Lariscy, 30, on charges of interfering with a government operation after the pair initiated a rescue for a Texas girl who fell from their company’s raft June 10 on Clear Creek.
Snodgrass swam to the girl, who had traveled a half-mile through swollen rapids and pulled herself to shore.
Sheriff’s officials said the pair ignored orders to stay out of the water and let volunteer search-and-rescue workers handle the matter.
Lariscy, in a letter describing the events of the day, said the pair saw “no plan of action or organization of the volunteers.”
Hurlbert said Snodgrass and Lariscy wrote “very good letters of apology” to the sheriff, prompting his decision.
“Once we let cooler heads prevail, both the sheriff and the raft guides and the rafting company, they realized things could have gone differently and charging a person was not going to be the correct solution,” said Hurlbert, district attorney for Colorado’s 5th Judicial District.
Since the incident, the sheriff and the guides’ company, Arkansas Valley Adventures, have been working on a procedure that would keep everyone involved safe, Hurlbert said.
“My hope is that Search and Rescue and the rafting company will work together,” Hurlbert said. “Ultimately, the safety of the person in the water is the No. 1 thing.”
Arkansas Valley Adventures owner Duke Bradford said he was relieved that his employees would not face criminal charges.
Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com
