DA releases report on fatal Highway 135 shooting

Officer-involved shooting justified

by Mark Reaman

The Seventh Judicial District has finally released a report on the fatal shooting that took place on Highway 135 just south of Crested Butte on Thanksgiving Day 2018. District attorney Dan Hotsenpiller has concluded the shooting of 59-year-old Patrick Langhoff by Colorado State Patrol sergeant Josh Boden was justified and no charges will be filed.

“I find that Sgt. Boden’s use of force was justified under Colorado law, and that there is no justification or basis for filing criminal charges in this case,” Hotsenpiller wrote in his report to the Colorado State Patrol, dated February 28.

Witnesses and police officers at the scene all indicate that Langhoff became uncooperative and showed signs of apparently wanting to take his own life when it became apparent officers were going to test him for DUI. When he drew a gun while being questioned, the situation escalated and officers responded with deadly force.

The report, which relied on several videotapes from body camera recordings and car camera recordings along with eyewitness accounts, goes into explicit details of the circumstances of the volatile situation that took place the afternoon of November 22 that ended in Langhoff’s death and closed the highway for more than three hours.

According to the report, the incident started when Boden, along with officers from Mt. Crested Butte, responded to a rollover accident at mile marker 23 on Highway 135 just after 4 p.m. Langhoff was in the car and officers on the scene interacted with Langhoff for more than an hour. Langhoff was being treated by EMS crews on the scene and refused further treatment.

When the medical treatment was completed, Boden began a DUI investigation. Langhoff had previously stated he had consumed six Sierra Nevada beers prior to the accident and officers observed signs of intoxication during their contact with him.

The report indicated Langhoff had been cooperative with EMS personnel and law enforcement officers until Sergeant Boden began asking about the potential DUI. He then became “confrontational and uncooperative.” Langhoff and his sister, Mary Bromley, were talking to Boden behind the ambulance when Langhoff pulled a fully loaded pistol from a computer bag.

“Patrick Langhoff pulled the handgun out of the computer bag and pointed the barrel of the gun at his right temple area,” the report stated. “Simultaneously, all three officers [in the area] responded by drawing their own duty weapons.”

All repeatedly gave verbal commands to Langhoff to put the gun down. He lowered the gun but the officers observed Langhoff “manipulate the firearm in a motion consistent with pulling back an external hammer [cocking the gun].”

When Langhoff began raising the gun, the report stated, Boden felt the action “indicated that direct deadly physical force was about to be used against him or someone else…. Sergeant Boden responded to Mr. Langhoff’s actions by firing three rapid consecutive shots to the chest area of Mr. Langhoff [Two shots struck him]. Approximately 22 seconds elapsed from the time Mr. Langhoff grabbed the gun from the computer bag and Sergeant Boden firing the shot. Mr. Langhoff collapsed to the ground after being shot.”

The report also recognized Mt. Crested Butte police officer Anthony Burton for his courage at the scene for placing himself between Langhoff and Langhoff’s sister, Mary Bromley, who was accompanying Langhoff. The report said that after Langhoff had removed the gun and prior to the use of force by Boden, Burton became concerned with the safety of Mr. Langhoff’s sister and put himself in between Ms. Bromley and Mr. Langhoff and physically moved her away from the threat of death or serious bodily injury. Burton was concerned that any shot from Langhoff’s gun could strike Bromley and the report recognized that “he took courageous action by placing himself in peril to remove Ms. Bromley from danger.”

The report indicated that Burton thought Langhoff had shot himself. Ms. Bromley apparently pleaded with law enforcement to let Mr. Langhoff die and said he [Mr. Langhoff] did not “want to be here” while life-saving efforts were being attempted by officers and EMTs.

Subsequent interviews with Bromley indicated Langhoff had fallen on hard times and he had recently become depressed and had begun to drink excessively. He had apparently talked about ending his own life. Bromley said Langhoff had become “very sad.”

The district attorney cited legal precedent involved in the case and the reasoning for not charging Boden with a criminal action. The report makes it clear that Colorado law has long recognized an individual’s right to use force in self defense based on “apparent necessity.” The reports states that the use of force is justified so long as the conditions and circumstances are such that a person would reasonably believe, erroneously or not, that action was necessary … Potentially lethal force may be used when a person is acting on a reasonable belief that he or others are in imminent danger of being killed or receiving great bodily injury and that a lesser degree of force is inadequate.

Hotsenpiller’s report concludes that Sergeant Boden “was justified in using deadly force against Patrick Langhoff. Sergeant Boden’s decision was objectively reasonable and appropriate.”

The D.A. noted that officer Burton deserved a commendation for his actions to protect Bromley.

The district attorney also concluded that “law enforcement officers never know when a routine accident investigation on a Thanksgiving Day will suddenly become an intense situation with life and death consequences … These incidents will have lasting tragic results for the family of the deceased, the officers involved, and our community.”

As for the time it took to complete the investigation and issue a report, Hotsenpiller explained this week, “I understand that everyone wants an immediate answer. The challenge we face is that we have to conduct a thorough investigation and a thoughtful review and analysis of the facts and the law. Finally, we are a small shop with a six-county responsibility. We do not have sufficient capacity to stop dealing with other matters and only focus on one investigation.”