The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
District attorney waiting on reports
By Mark Reaman
Do not expect any quick official answers from investigators about the circumstances surrounding the shooting by a Colorado State Patrol officer and death of a civilian that occurred on Highway 135 Thanksgiving Day.
Patrick Langhoff, 59, of Mancos, Colo. was shot and killed by State Patrol sergeant Joshua Boden just south of Crested Butte on November 22. Boden was responding to a single-vehicle accident at mile marker 23. The few details that have been released by the 7th Judicial District Critical Incident Investigative Team indicate that Langhoff emerged from the accident scene “brandishing a firearm” and was subsequently shot by the state trooper and pronounced dead at the scene.
Colorado Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Susan Medina said this week that the investigation continues. “I just spoke with the agent in charge in the Grand Junction office and he relayed that the team is still completing reports,” she said Tuesday in an email to the Crested Butte News. “There has not been a presentation to the DA [District Attorney] to date.”
Seventh Judicial District DA Dan Hotsenpiller said the matter is being investigated by the Critical Incident Investigation Team; it is expected to take several weeks for the investigation and for reports to be generated.
“In a case like this, where no one has been arrested, our office does not get reports until the investigation is concluded,” he explained. “At that point we are generally given reports, results of forensic analyses, video and audio recordings. In conjunction with that, we often receive a verbal briefing. At that point, we review the material, subject it to our internal review process including a ‘staffing’ of a team of investigators and attorneys, and then make a determination as to whether charges should be filed. We will then write a report which will be published on our website and shared with all press.”
Hotsenpiller said this process is being followed at this time in this case. As a result, he said his office doesn’t “have any more information at this time than what was published at the outset. In addition, we are under the restrictions of our ethical rules, which strictly limit any public disclosures at this stage. The goal is a thorough yet timely investigation which is always a tough balance.”
Boden is on paid administrative leave.
