An arrest warrant for assault has been issued in Denver for Douglas Bruce, the author of Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, after an incident following a court appearance earlier this month.
The warrant was signed by a judge and issued out of the county’s court on Sunday, records show. The court clerk’s office says the warrant is for a municipal assault offense.
Bruce is accused of assault at the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse on April 10 where a out of the hands of Dede Laugesen, executive director of Colorado Springs Government Watch. Bruce was leaving the courthouse following a hearing in which prosecutors in his 2012 tax evasion conviction.
Laugesen posted the video of the alleged assault on YouTube showing her questioning Colorado Springs City Councilwoman Helen Collins, who was in Denver supporting Bruce. The video appears to show Bruce grabbing the phone out of her hands.
“I was not talking with Douglas Bruce,” Laugesen said Tuesday of the encounter. “In fact I was ignoring him. In my estimation bullies do not like to be ignored and he showed his true colors.”
Laugesen said she spoke to a Denver police detective and filed a report in the case. She says Bruce pulled her fingers and made her feel threatened.
“It’s not OK to abuse somebody and attack somebody in the way he did to me,” she said. “Hopefully justice will be done and he’ll learn it’s not OK to strike out at somebody.”
The warrant is the latest in a wave of recent troubles for the former Colorado Springs lawmaker. The Colorado Attorney General’s Office says Bruce violated six conditions of his probation in his 2012 felony conviction, and news surfaced last week he is wanted for failing to appear in an Ohio municipal court last year.
“I did not assault Dede Laugesen,” Bruce told The Denver Post on Tuesday. “I didn’t touch her. She put her camera an inch away from my face as I was trying to leave.”
Bruce said he was just trying to push the phone away as Laugesen was harassing him and Collins. The former lawmaker said he was not aware of the Denver warrant until he was called by The Post.
“I think it’s deplorable that nobody contacted me,” he said of the case.
The warrant could mean further problems in Bruce’s probation revocation case. The attorney general’s office accused Bruce at the April 10 hearing of failing to make a timely report of a law enforcement contact, not returning a financial disclosure form and not properly disclosing financial obligations and funds. Bruce also is accused of failing to provide copies of his income tax records for two years.
When asked how Bruce’s latest arrest warrant could impact his probation case, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said prosecutors are “going forward” with their case.
A litigated revocation hearing in the probation case is scheduled for the 65-year-old on July 13 in Denver. Bruce faces possible prison time if convicted.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/JesseAPaul
