Authorities took Alex Porter, 23, into custody after an internal investigation found that the deputy was allegedly involved in a domestic violence incident in late May, according to a press release issued by the sheriff’s office Friday.

No details were provided about the victim or victims in the case or how the victims might have been related to Porter.

Porter faces two counts of third-degree assault, a count of stalking— repeatedly follow, one count of first-degree official misconduct, one count of tampering with physical evidence and three counts of harassment with “strikes, shoves and kicks.”

Porter has been with the Weld County Sheriff’s Office for four years. He is on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of the internal and criminal investigations.

“Law enforcement officers are expected to hold themselves to a higher standard than the average citizen,” Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that this incident occurred but justice must be applied equally.”

Porter is in custody at the Weld County Jail as of 10 a.m. Friday, according to Weld County Jail arrest records. Court information for his case was not immediately available.

Updated 10 a.m. June 19, 2026: Because of a source’s error, this article misreported the charges the suspect faces. It has been corrected to note that one of the charges was for stalking—repeatedly follow.

No free agent signing generated more excitement last March than the addition of Engram. He profiled as a mismatch in space in the passing game. By season’s end, he was lost in space. While Engram worked hard, remained humbled and never publicly complained, he filled a diminished role, catching 50 passes for 461 yards and one touchdown.

He had three big plays — a catalytic touchdown against the Eagles in a shocking comeback win, a first down in the go-ahead drive against the Jets in London and a 41-yard overtime reception in Washington, schooling Bobby Wagner to set up a score.

This was who we thought Engram would be after watching OTAs in 2025.

Flash forward to the past two weeks. Engram is making light work of linebackers in coverage with eye-widening catches.

“He’s doing well. He’s moving well. He’s extending plays. Again, it¶¶Òőap a little easier for those guys that are further away from the ball in these types of OTAs than the linemen,” coach Sean Payton said Thursday. “Yet it¶¶Òőap important timing and it¶¶Òőap important for him in his second year. He’s doing a good job with it.”

Is his performance telling? Or misleading? Is it time to buy into what Engram is showing?

The answer is yes. With a caveat.

There is confidence that new offensive coordinator Davis Webb will find a way to expand Engram’s role. They were teammates with the Giants. Webb recruited Engram to the Broncos. With Jaylen Waddle in the mix, there should be obvious openings in the middle of the field for Bo Nix, an area where he has struggled in his first two seasons.

If Waddle takes coverage on a slant that leaves Engram in man-to-man on a stick route or RPO quick hitter. The Broncos did not forget about Engram last season. He received 76 targets. And while Nix never totally clicked with Engram, especially when plays broke down, it is on the 31-year-old to do his part.

Engram posted a 10.2 % drop rate last season, the highest of his career. That won’t fly. He needs to continue earning trust this month and at training camp. The Broncos plan to use heavy personnel, so Engram’s career-low 42 % snap count is not going to suddenly spike.

It is all about maximizing opportunities, using sticky fingers to produce 60 catches for 550 yards and three scores.

At the risk of getting fooled again, Engram is ripe for a bounce-back season.

Sorsby solution: Conferences continue to melt down over a handpicked judge ruling Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby can play this season after committing the cardinal sin of betting on his team. The Big 12 is mulling boycotting Tech games. Why? Because Tech makes it worse every time the school’s leadership opens its mouth. They are using straw arguments about domestic violence and murder to diminish Sorsby’s actions. They claim they are motivated to help Sorsby fight his gambling addiction, then laughably insist he can only overcome it by playing. He should be banned, even as few are pure when it comes to gambling, whether it is through participation or accepted advertising. Texas Tech won’t do the right thing — honor Sorsby’s NIL money, let him practice and prepare for the NFL draft without suiting up. This mess has shown the clear need for football players to be unionized under a collective bargaining agreement, or for a football commissioner to rule with less red tape.

Outfoxed: Every historic comeback needs someone to page Dr. Heimlich. The Knicks overcame a 29-point deficit in Game 4 because of unconscious fourth-quarter shooting and complete brain freezes by Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox. You can take the guard out of Sacramento, but you cannot take Sacramento out of the guard. His decision to shoot a layup with 10 seconds left was foolish, perhaps only topped by double-teaming Jalen Brunson with Victor Wembanyama rather than guarding inbounder OG Anunoby. San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson has not draped himself in glory in this series, but if he wants to inspire a Spurs comeback, he must play Dylan Harper and make Fox a frequent spectator.

Cooper, the Broncos’ outside linebacker, was arrested Thursday night for the second time in about a week. The 28-year-old defender, according to online records, was booked at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office detention facility on a charge of domestic violence and misdemeanor charges of harassment and violation of a protection order.

The details paint an even scarier picture. Cooper and his girlfriend were arrested last Thursday night and given a court order to stay away from one another. Only records indicate that Cooper’s girlfriend called police this Thursday, a few hours after the Broncos completed organized team activities, to say that the Broncos edge-rusher had shown up at her apartment and knocked on the door for “five to 10 minutes.”

According to an affidavit, Cooper sent her at least 20 messages. Both were under court protection orders that forbid them from interacting, stemming from a June 4 incident in which the woman endured “strangulation with hypoxia and traumatic brain injury,” the affidavit reads.

“I started to cry and he pressed, like, further — (because) he had me held up against the wall — he just pressed further and then dropped me and just started screaming at me that it was my fault and that I, like, caused this, and that I was like, a (expletive),” she told police, according to the affidavit.

Cut him. Now.

This isn’t just about football. It’s about trust. It’s about accountability. It’s about decency. What was becoming a distraction for a franchise riding high during a championship window has taken a more awful, serious turn.

The Broncos have to ask themselves a simple question today: Which cost is greater? I Or the stain on a franchise from a story that gets worse by the day?

For Carrie Walton-Penner and Greg Penner, this shouldn’t even be a discussion.

You move on.

Cooper isn’t just a danger to a team’s image anymore. He’s become a danger to another human being. A second arrest, and every unseemly anecdote that’s emerged since, removes any benefit of the doubt. All Cooper had to do to keep his career on track and his team out of the headlines was … nothing.  He couldn’t.

If the Broncos do nothing in response, then what does that say about them?

“We had a long visit with Coop,” Payton, the Broncos’ coach, said Thursday afternoon as voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) wrapped up with Cooper in attendance, “and now the process plays out.”

And Coop did what he did anyway.

“I haven’t (talked about it with the team), and yeah, my instincts told me not to right away,” Payton continued. “(At) this time next week, we have three days of mini-camp. We’ll have a number of speakers. I think there’ll be a time, though, to talk about it.”

That time is right here. Right now. As a best-case scenario, NFL precedent suggests a hefty suspension for Cooper is coming — most likely for six games, regardless of what the courts decide.

The Post’s Luca Evans reported late Thursday night that officials added felony second-degree strangulation charges to the Broncos defender’s case. The veteran linebacker pleaded not guilty in court last week and was seen practicing this past Thursday at OTAs — the last voluntary team session before mandatory mini-camp begins Tuesday. Cooper is slated for a motions hearing on July 6, and a potential jury trial in late July.

Last year, the NFL suspended Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice six games after the wideout pled guilty to two third-degree felony charges stemming from a road-racing incident in Dallas. In 2024, the league suspended then-Arizona wideout Zay Jones for the first five games of the regular season after Jones was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery in Florida. Those charges were later dropped. The suspension wasn’t.

And when it comes to replacements — no, Von Miller isn’t necessarily the logical answer here, either.

For one, the 58 you knew and loved is Von gone. Miller hasn’t played on more than 37% of his team’s defensive snaps since 2022. Pro Football Focus hasn’t given him a grade better than 85.8 (out of 100) since 2021. PFF says The Vonster missed 20% of the tackles he attempted last fall with Washington.

The popular scouting site’s wonks pegged Miller in 2025 as a 64.4-rated defender. Which, we’ll grant you, is solid for a then-36-year-old edge guy. It’s also a drop of 21.1 points from the 85.5 overall grade Vonster collected as a member of the Buffalo Bills in 2024.

Meanwhile, Broncos linebacker Jonah Elliss is 23. PFF graded him out with a 75.8 score overall during the regular season. Elliss recorded three sacks and 18 hurries on 370 snaps, per the site’s advanced metrics, and … didn’t miss a tackle.

Dondrea Tillman is 28. PFF gave him a 68.5 overall grade, with a run-stopping grade of 72.3, which ranked 19th in the league among edge-rushers. Missed-tackle rate: 15.4%.

Que Robinson is 25. He landed a 65.4 overall PFF grade on just 163 snaps as a rookie last fall. Missed-tackle rate: 16.7%.

It’s easy to put 2 and 2 together and come up with a 58 reunion. Only that’s fuzzy math.

The Broncos don’t just have cheaper, younger options than Miller. They have better ones, already on hand.

Per Spotrac.com, the Broncos, as of Friday morning, at $30.36 million. The site said Vonster was worth a 1-year, $5.8-million deal , which would certainly fit the budget.

But does he fit the building? Payton’s built a culture in Dove Valley around his image, his standard. Von takes up a lot of oxygen in any locker room he joins. But especially the one here, where 58 is already revered.

To general manager George Paton’s credit, the roster is already buffered in case of a long-term Cooper absence. We haven’t even mentioned Drew Sanders yet. And defensive coordinator Vance Joseph slathered Robinson with all kinds of love Thursday when asked about the second-year defender’s upside for 2026.

“After the season, watching the cut-ups (of game tape) … when Que played, he played really well,” Joseph said. “He looked like a guy who could be a future starter for us … so it’s our job to keep improving with Que, and get him more reps.”

If Payton is serious about accountability and trust, a window on the Broncos’ defense is about to open. A Super Bowl flag is on the ground, now, waiting for the next man to pick it up and run to daylight.

The new charges for the 28-year-old Cooper come on top of second-degree felony and third-degree misdemeanor charges filed in Douglas County District Court stemming from his original June 4 arrest. A forensic exam performed on Cooper’s girlfriend after the altercation indicated she had been strangled, according to an updated affidavit obtained by The Post on Friday.

Hours after practicing with the Broncos in a limited capacity Thursday, police arrested Cooper at 6:17 p.m. and booked him at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office detention facility later that night on misdemeanor charges of harassment and violation of a protection order, according to records.

“We are disappointed to learn of Jonathon Cooper’s arrest on Thursday and continue to review this matter,” the Broncos said in a statement provided to The Post.

Cooper appeared in Douglas County court Friday morning, where Judge Mark Solomon issued a personal recognizance bond of $5,000 for Cooper, after arguments between Cooper’s lawyer Harvey Steinberg and Cooper’s former girlfriend’s lawyer Ronald Gainor about whether Cooper violated a protection order filed earlier in the week.

Solomon ordered that Cooper — identified in court documents as Jonathan Javier Cooper — must have prior approval from the court before traveling outside of Colorado. The Broncos are scheduled to play their first preseason game against the Falcons in Atlanta on Aug. 14.

According to the NFL’s personal conduct policy, players found guilty of criminal assault through an NFL investigation could face a baseline suspension of up to six games. That number can range higher or lower depending on aggravating or mitigating factors the league reviews around the incident.

“We continue to monitor all developments in the matter which remains under review of the personal conduct policy,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told The Post in a statement.

In the original arrest affidavit for Cooper’s girlfriend following the June 4 incident, she told police Cooper grabbed and lifted her by the neck and threw her to the ground several times during their argument at his apartment after she accused him of infidelity. According to an updated arrest affidavit obtained by The Post Friday morning, the woman was taken to the Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora after Cooper’s initial arrest for a forensic examination.

A forensic nurse who evaluated Cooper’s girlfriend reported to police that the woman had experienced “strangulation with hypoxia and traumatic brain injury,” the affidavit reads.

“Regarding seriously bodily injury, it is my medical opinion that the above … patient experienced physical injury which, either at the time of the actual injury or at a later time involved… (a) substantial risk of death (and) a substantial risk of protracted loss or impairment of the function of any part or organ on the body,” the nurse wrote, as the affidavit details.

Cooper originally denied any physical altercation to a responding officer, according to the affidavit. After the officer asked Cooper if he grabbed his girlfriend’s neck, Cooper “nodded his head up and down, coupled with an mm-hmm,” and said he grabbed it “aggressive,” the affidavit reads.

Cooper told police in that same affidavit that both he and his girlfriend had been dealing with emotional stress recently, and that such an incident was an “uncommon occurrence.”

“Cooper questioned where the anger and aggression came from, and when asked, confirmed he’s had two serious concussions in the past, both from football,” the affidavit reads.

A day after those charges were levied, Cooper sent his girlfriend nearly 20 text messages Thursday and called her via FaceTime and a social media platform while she was speaking with an officer, according to a subsequent arrest affidavit. Later in the day, he appeared at her apartment and knocked on the door for five to 10 minutes, the affidavit reads.

Some of the messages are sexual in nature. Cooper repeatedly asked his girlfriend if he could see her, if he could be with her and if she was “scared of the law.”

Cooper’s girlfriend told an officer that his showing up at the apartment made her feel “scared.”

Both Cooper and his former girlfriend had protection orders that prohibited them from interacting after they were both arrested in the June 4 altercation. Steinberg argued in court Friday that Cooper “did not have a no-contact order,” and therefore wasn’t prohibited from going to her house and knocking on her door. Steinberg also called police reporting that Cooper’s girlfriend was scared of him as “sensationalism” and “hyperbole.”

“It’s suggested … in multiple messages that this defendant asked to have sexual contact with (Cooper’s girlfriend) after she was assaulted,” Gainor said in court. “So for Mr. Steinberg or the record to reflect that this was not offensive conduct flies in the face of these messages.”

While prosecutors requested that an ankle monitor be issued to Cooper in light of how quickly he violated the protection order, Solomon declined to do so.

The 28-year-old Cooper is playing the 2026 season in Denver on the second year of a four-year, $60 million contract extension signed in November 2024. He finished second on the Broncos in sacks in both 2024 (10.5) and 2025 (8.0).

He has been with the team across the last two weeks of organized team activities. On Thursday, before Cooper’s second arrest, Broncos head coach Sean Payton told reporters that team leadership had a “long visit” with him.

“Now the process plays out,” Payton said. “The league obviously will be very much involved in that. We’ll stay abreast, but much like you all. I think that¶¶Òőap where it¶¶Òőap at. We just go from there.”

Cooper has a disposition hearing scheduled for July 14 on Thursday’s charge of violating the protection order, and a jury trial scheduled for July 22 and 23 for his original misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief from last week, according to court records.

Cooper initially faced a charge of misdemeanor criminal mischief following an incident with his girlfriend the night of June 4. He now also faces a felony charge of second-degree assault by strangulation and a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault — knowingly or recklessly causing bodily injury. The charges were announced Wednesday in Douglas County District Court, according to court records. Cooper pleaded not guilty in court on Monday morning to the original charge, with a trial scheduled in late July.

The Post has reached out to Cooper’s attorney Harvey Steinberg and spokespeople for the Broncos and the NFL for comment.

Cooper and his girlfriend got into an argument on June 4 after she accused him of cheating on her and a physical struggle broke out, according to each of their arrest affidavits. But each of them described their argument differently.

Cooper told police he’d grabbed his girlfriend by her upper arms to retrieve his phone, and that he bit her phone and caused “disabling damage,” as his affidavit reads.

In her own arrest affidavit, Cooper’s girlfriend told police that he had “grabbed her by the neck with one hand” and lifted her against the wall for approximately one minute. Cooper’s girlfriend also alleged that he threw her to the ground approximately three times, as the affidavit reads.

At the time, the arresting officer wrote in the affidavit that they observed a “small mark” on Cooper’s girlfriend’s neck and scratches on her arm, but the officer wrote in the affidavit that it did not seem consistent with a man lifting the woman by her neck as she told the officer Cooper had done to her.

Cooper was at Broncos practice on Thursday during the team’s second week of OTAs, and has been on the field since Monday. Broncos head coach Sean Payton said Thursday that team leadership had a “long visit” with Cooper about the incident, and that the league will be “very much involved” as the legal process continues.

“We’ll stay as informed as possible,” Payton said Thursday. “We’ll follow the league’s guidelines, and I’m sure a lot of that will be led by the local authorities’ guidelines. We’ll pay attention to all of it.”

The states that the league office will begin an investigation when it becomes aware of any possible violation of that policy, which includes criminal proceedings for incidents involving assault or physical violence against another person. If Cooper is found guilty of criminal assault under any NFL investigation, he could be subject to a six-game suspension, according to league policy.

Cooper, 28, will play in 2026 on the second year of a four-year contract extension worth up to $60 million and signed in November 2024. He has established himself as a key starter on Denver’s defense, finishing second on the team with eight sacks in 2025.

The 28-year-old took part in Thursday’s practice, which was open to reporters, and took part in individual and team work during the Broncos’ non-padded session, though he has not been a full participant so far during OTAs.

Head coach Sean Payton afterward said the NFL, which investigates potential violations of the league’s personal conduct policy, takes the lead in matters like Cooper’s arrest.

“The league’s done a good job of kind of coming in and really taking over that responsibility,” Payton said Thursday in the first public comments by a team official since Cooper’s arrest a week ago. “We had a long visit with ‘Coop’ and now the process plays out. The league, obviously, being very much involved in that. We’ll stay abreast of that much like you all. I think that¶¶Òőap where it¶¶Òőap at. We just go from there.”

Cooper and his girlfriend were both arrested following an incident that started with an argument over cheating allegations levied by his girlfriend, according to arrest affidavits for both. Cooper’s girlfriend took his phone and threw it across the room, then tried to look through it, according to police. Cooper grabbed the girlfriend by her upper arms and later braced his neck against hers during a struggle over the phone, according to an affidavit for Cooper’s arrest.

Cooper’s girlfriend also told a separate officer that Cooper had “grabbed her by the neck” and held her up against the wall for approximately a minute, according to the affidavit for her arrest. Cooper’s girlfriend also said he picked her up and threw her back on the ground approximately three times, and punched the wall “next to her face.”

The officer noted in the affidavit that the marks she observed on the woman’s body were not consistent with such an assault.

“As of this report, there is no probable cause for harassment or assault charges given conflicting statements and lack of specific physical evidence,”a Parker police officer wrote in Cooper’s affidavit.

Cooper, though, faced two new assault charges as of Wednesday, The Post reported Thursday night.

Cooper is the first Broncos player known to be arrested since Payton was hired.

“Period,” Payton said.

“You’re always — when it¶¶Òőap the offseason or it¶¶Òőap the weekends, no news is always good news,” Payton added. “Knock on wood, we’ve had a long stretch where that¶¶Òőap been the case. Now, we’ll stay as informed as possible. We’ll follow the league’s guidelines and I’m sure a lot of that will be led by the local authorities’ guidelines.”

Cooper’s attorney said at a preliminary court hearing Monday that the defense does not intend to settle and looks forward to trial, which is currently slated to begin July 22.

Broncos veterans, including Cooper, would then be scheduled to report to training camp shortly after, somewhere around July 27.

Payton said he had not addressed Cooper’s arrest with his team.

“My instincts told me not to right away,” he said. “This time next week — we have three days of minicamp, and we’ll have a number of speakers.

“I think there will be a time to talk about it.”

Cooper, 28, and his girlfriend were arrested last Thursday and charged with criminal mischief as a crime of domestic violence after Parker police officers responded to reports of a “domestic incident” between the two late that night. The charge has different severities based on the amount of damage caused, resulting in a misdemeanor-level charge for Cooper and a petty-level offense for his girlfriend.

The football player’s case is scheduled to go before a jury in late July, according to Douglas County court records. During Monday’s disposition hearing, Cooper pleaded not guilty to the criminal mischief charge, and a motions hearing was scheduled for July 6. The jury trial is expected to begin on July 22.

Harvey Steinberg, Cooper’s attorney, said the defense team doesn’t intend to file any motion to dismiss and wants the case to be heard by a jury. Steinberg pushed for a trial “as early as possible” during Monday’s hearing to avoid affecting Cooper’s employment as a football player.

The 2026 NFL season officially starts in September, but the Broncos will play preseason games as early as Aug. 14 and training camp begins the last week of July.

Cooper has become an important pass-rusher on the Broncos’ defense across a five-year tenure in Denver, originally drafted in the seventh round in the 2021 NFL Draft. In November 2024, he signed a four-year contract extension worth $33 million in guaranteed money and up to $60 million in total value.

“He’s consistent,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said of Cooper in August 2025. “He’s the same guy every single day. He’s the fire starter for our defense. He’s physical. He’s a better rusher than people think he is. He’s a really good football player, and that¶¶Òőap the kind of guys we have on our team.”

After recording a career-best 10.5 sacks in 2024 and another 8.0 sacks in 2025, Cooper stands to make a total of $12 million in total cash payout this season in Denver. The Broncos typically begin training camp in late July, meaning Cooper’s trial could take place just before the team reports back to the facility for the start of the 2026 season.

Cooper was arrested in Parker shortly after 11:15 p.m. Thursday and booked into the Douglas County jail roughly three hours later, according to inmate records. His girlfriend, whom The Denver Post is not currently identifying, was also arrested.

The girlfriend told police that she had confronted Cooper about cheating allegations, which led to a fight over his phone, according to the pair’s arrest affidavits.

Neither party was charged with harassment or assault because there was “no probable cause 
 given the conflicting statements and lack of specific physical evidence,” Parker police wrote in Cooper’s affidavit.

Cooper’s girlfriend took his phone from him, threw it across the room and then went to pick it up and look through it, according to both affidavits. That¶¶Òőap where their stories split.

Cooper, wanting his phone back, told police that he grabbed his girlfriend by her upper arm and took it, according to his affidavit. He also told police that he “braced his neck against her neck” to prevent her from getting it and admitted to threatening to break his girlfriend’s phone if she didn’t leave his apartment.

But his girlfriend told a separate officer that the football player had “grabbed her by the neck” and held her up against the wall, according to the affidavit for her arrest. Cooper’s girlfriend also said he picked her up and threw her back on the ground several times and punched the wall “next to her face.”

When she didn’t leave, Cooper bit her phone, damaging it, according to both arrest affidavits.

Officers noted in the affidavit that the girlfriend’s injuries didn’t quite match her claims, observing a small mark on her neck, scratches on her arm and a small cut on her hand. Those injuries “did not appear consistent with a larger male lifting (her) up into the air by her throat as well as repeatedly being thrown to the ground,” police said.

As of Monday morning, the girlfriend was next scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial conference on June 16.

Teacher discipline in Colorado spiked over the last five years, with the revocation, suspension and surrender of teachers’ licenses reaching a record high in 2022 with 31 lost licenses and remaining elevated in the following years, according to a Denver Post analysis of disciplinary records kept by the .

Incidents that led to educators losing their teaching licenses increased by 77% between 2021 and 2025 when compared to the previous five years, The Post found. Sexual offenses by teachers also went up along with the overall jump in disciplinary cases, though not as sharply: 29 teachers lost their licenses for sexual offenses between 2016 and 2020, compared to 45 between 2021 and 2025, a 55% increase, The Post found.

The uptick in the most serious type of educator discipline, which reflects a tiny fraction of the state’s teachers, comes after the COVID-19 pandemic threw schools into turmoil and follows a handful of high-profile cases of teacher abuse that have cost Colorado schools millions of dollars in legal settlements. The increased discipline also follows legislative changes that strengthened the state’s mandatory reporting laws and comes as the state faces a shortage of teachers.

Each of those factors might be influencing the increased levels of discipline, experts told The Post. They generally felt the higher number of disciplinary actions reflected better training and reporting, rather than an actual increase in bad behavior.

“As a society, our community has done a much better job of making it possible for people to come forward and feel safe,” said George Brauchler, who has handled a number of teacher sex assault cases as the elected district attorney for the 23rd Judicial District, which includes Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties.

“What I don’t want to believe — and I’m not convinced is true — is we are seeing an increased number of teachers who are going to prey on our kids,” he said. “My hope and thought is that because we are looking harder, we are taking it more seriously, the outcry is increased, and we are able to investigate and hold more people accountable for this.”

Colorado has about 54,000 teachers at the kindergarten through 12th-grade levels, according to the state Department of Education.

The Post examined 341 cases in which teachers surrendered their licenses or state authorities revoked or suspended licenses between 2000 and 2025 and sifted through thousands of pages of to build a complete picture of the state’s teacher disciplinary history during the last quarter century.

That analysis showed that sexual offenses by teachers led to nearly half — 44% — of lost teaching licenses in Colorado over the last 25 years.

The most common reason for teachers to lose their licenses was sexual contact with students, accounting for 76 cases, according to The Post’s review. The second most frequent reason was a non-sexual criminal conviction, seen in 52 cases, followed by sexual contact with minors who weren’t students, noted in 20 cases.

Theft, excessive physical force on students, possession of child sexual abuse material and domestic violence were also common reasons for teachers to lose their licenses.

Colorado’s upswing not reflected nationally

The disciplinary cases included a Morgan County wrestling coach who taped a boy to a bench as punishment for misbehaving in 2006, including taping over his hands and mouth, as well as a Pueblo middle school teacher who watched pornography and masturbated in his classroom in 2012 — an act that was observed by two 13-year-old girls who peered into the classroom through a partially covered window.

A Montrose teacher sent sexually explicit text messages to a teenage student and tried to arrange to have sex with him in 2024. A Douglas County middle school teacher sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy for more than a year beginning in 2023, then stalked the student, creating fake phone numbers to try to reach him by text.

The Post’s analysis is based on the date the offenses occurred, not the year the teachers’ licenses were revoked, as the license actions routinely trail incidents by months or years. In some cases, teachers lost their licenses occurred because an adult victim came forward about prior childhood abuse, the records showed.

That pattern suggests that lost licenses for incidents that occurred in 2025 are likely to rise over the next year.

The upswing in Colorado’s discipline wasn’t seen to the same degree nationwide, said Jimmy Adams, executive director of the , can organization that maintains a nationwide database of teacher license actions. Prior to 2020, the agency received, on average, records of 6,000 teacher license actions annually from all 50 states, Adams said.

That nudged up to an average of 6,100 actions annually beginning in 2020 and has remained around that average since, he said, noting that each state sets its own standards for discipline, which makes it difficult to draw comparisons across state lines. The vast majority of teachers never face license-level discipline, Adams said.

Until 2022, Colorado saw 18 or fewer lost teaching licenses annually, the records reviewed by The Post show. That jumped to 31 in 2022, then 24 in 2023 and 28 in 2024. So far, 16 teachers have lost licenses for incidents in 2025, according to the records.

“When you are driving down the road somewhere, the vast majority of other cars are doing exactly what they are supposed to do,” Adams said. “When you go to the doctor, the vast majority of doctors do exactly what you want them to do. And the same is true for teachers.”

Shifts in discipline are often caused by changes to the state’s approach to enforcement, improved training and education, or shifts in state law, Adams said.

Colorado Department of Education spokesman Jeremy Meyer said the state agency has not changed the way it handles discipline in recent years. He declined to make anyone available to speak with The Post about the shifts in discipline, saying agency staff — who do not track how many teachers are disciplined annually or why — could not comment on The Post’s findings without doing their own additional research.

Spotlight on teacher sexual abuse

The jump in Colorado teacher discipline came soon after a handful of high-profile cases put a spotlight on teacher sexual abuse and the responsibility of administrators and colleagues to report such allegations to outside authorities.

In 2018, Denver prosecutors brought criminal charges against five East High School staff members for failing to report an alleged sexual assault by one student on another. The charges were all dropped in 2019.

Also in 2018, three staff members at Aurora’s Prairie Middle School were charged with failure to report child abuse after they pressured a 14-year-old student to recant her claims that a teacher sexually abused her, ultimately forcing the student to apologize to the teacher and hug him before suspending the girl for making a false report. The teacher later confessed to sexually assaulting five students at the school.

The Cherry Creek School District paid $11.5 million to settle a lawsuit from the five victims. The failure-to-report charges were dismissed against the staffers in that case as well, because they fell outside the statute of limitations. In 2019, Colorado lawmakers extended the statute of limitations on failure to report child abuse from 18 months to three years.

As part of that $11.5 million settlement, the school district agreed to put together a comprehensive training on mandatory reporting, said attorney Siddhartha Rathod, whose law firm represented the five victims. The district went on to put together a “phenomenal” program that reached beyond just the Cherry Creek district, he said.

“So when teachers do see something, they are starting to realize, ‘Hey, we really do need to say something,’ ” he said, adding that he thinks the license actions show just “the tip of the iceberg.”

Similarly, more people have attended trainings offered by the in recent years, with annual attendees climbing from about 8,000 in 2018 to nearly 12,000 in 2025, according to the .

Those trainings cover topics like child sexual abuse prevention, mandatory reporting and cyber safety, said Gianna De Fries, a spokeswoman for the , which houses the office.

State lawmakers reformed Colorado’s mandatory reporting laws in 2025 in an attempt to clarify the often-misunderstood law, which requires certain professionals to report suspected child abuse to state authorities. Across the state, 27 people were charged with failure to report child abuse between 2018 and 2025, according to the . The highest annual count was six cases in 2022.

Cooper, 28, was arrested by Parker police at 11:16 p.m. and booked into Douglas County jail at 2:38 a.m., according to jail records. Cooper’s attorney, Harvey Steinberg, told The Denver Post that Cooper had obtained a personal recognizance bond, which enabled his release from custody without immediately paying bail.

Cooper appeared Friday morning in the 23rd Judicial District Court for a first appearance. He is due back in court Monday morning. Bail information for Cooper’s girlfriend — who The Post is declining to name — was not available.

“We are aware of the matter and are gathering more information,” the Broncos said in a statement provided to The Post.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Post in a statement that the league was “aware of the matter” and has been in contact with the Broncos.

Both Cooper and his girlfriend were arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic violence, while Cooper also faces a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief from $300 to $999. His girlfriend faces an additional charge of petty criminal mischief less than $300.

According to Cooper’s arrest affidavit, a Parker police officer responded to a “domestic incident” between Cooper and his girlfriend in Parker at 8:42 p.m. Thursday. Cooper’s girlfriend confronted Cooper with allegations he was cheating on her, according to the affidavit. An altercation ensued, but Cooper and his girlfriend described it differently to police, as detailed in Cooper and his girlfriend’s separate affidavits.

“As of this report, there is no probable cause for harassment or assault charges given conflicting statements and lack of specific physical evidence,” the Parker officer wrote in Cooper’s affidavit.

Cooper’s girlfriend said she took his phone from him, threw it across the room, then went to pick it up and look through its contents. Cooper wanted his phone back and, according to his affidavit, Cooper told police he grabbed his girlfriend by her upper arms and was able to get the phone back.

When the woman again tried to take his phone, Cooper told police he “braced his neck against her neck” to prevent her from getting it, according to the affidavit. After eventually retrieving his phone, Cooper told his girlfriend that he would break her phone if she didn’t leave his apartment, he told police.

When Cooper’s girlfriend still did not leave, the Broncos player bit her phone, causing “disabling damage,” both affidavits said.

Cooper’s girlfriend, however, also told a separate officer that Cooper had “grabbed her by the neck” and held her up against the wall for approximately a minute, according to the affidavit for her arrest. Cooper’s girlfriend also said he picked her up and threw her back on the ground approximately three times, and punched the wall “next to her face.”

The officer noted in the affidavit that the marks she observed on the woman’s body were not consistent with such an assault.

“I observed a small mark on (the woman’s) neck, where she claimed Jonathan grabbed her,” the affidavit reads. “I also observed scratches on (her) arm and a small cut on her hand. These markings and scratches did not appear consistent with a larger male lifting (her) up into the air by her throat as well as repeatedly being thrown to the ground. The small mark on (the woman’s) neck did not appear to be consistent with the claim that (she) had been held up in the air by her throat by another individual.”

Cooper’s girlfriend remained in custody in the Douglas County Jail as of Friday afternoon.

Just hours before Cooper’s arrest, the five-year NFL veteran was in a helmet and gear for the Broncos’ third practice of OTAs Thursday, although he didn’t participate in any 11-on-11 team drills.

Cooper was drafted by the Broncos in the seventh round of the 2021 draft and has become one of the team’s core players. He signed a four-year contract extension worth $54 million in November 2024, recording a career-best 10.5 sacks that season and eight sacks in 2025.

“I’m still young in this league,” Cooper told reporters in late January, two days after the Broncos’ season ended with an AFC Championship loss to the Patriots. “And I still have a lot of opportunity to grow, and become an even better player. And that¶¶Òőap the whole focus in the offseason.”

Cooper’s attorney, Steinberg, is well-known in Colorado for high-profile defense work, including representing former Broncos receiver Jerry Jeudy in a 2022 criminal case.

Officers responded to reports of a “domestic fight with weapons” in the 900 block of Alexander Circle in northeast Pueblo shortly before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a .

The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, left before officers arrived, but he was found later that evening in the 800 block of East Fifth Street, police said in the release. That block is roughly two miles south of the initial domestic violence incident, also on the east side of Pueblo.

When officers attempted to contact the man, he shot at them, police said.

SWAT officers arrived at the new address at approximately 7:41 p.m., at which point the man again shot at law enforcement, police said. An unknown number of officers returned fire, shooting and injuring the man.

Paramedics took the man to the hospital with unspecified injuries, police said.

All officers and dispatchers involved in the incident were placed on administrative leave Tuesday evening pending the investigation, which police officials said is the department’s normal procedure. The officers have not been publicly identified.

The 10th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team will investigate the police shooting.

No additional information about the shooting or the events leading up to it was available Wednesday morning.

This is a developing story and will be updated.