The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Context matters
[ by Mark Reaman ]
A swift investigation into an alleged comment by a Mt. Crested Butte police officer has concluded the citizen who overheard a conversation mistook what was being said.
A formal complaint was filed with Mt. Crested Butte after the June 9 drug bust in Crested Butte. A neighbor said she was told that another neighbor heard the officer say he wanted to get a tattoo of a swastika on his arm.
Mt. Crested Butte town manager Isa Reeb conducted an investigation into the matter. According to her report, Crested Butte Fire Protection District fire chief Rob Weisbaum provided a statement on Monday saying he was the one talking to the officer. Weisbaum said he and the police officer, who was born in Germany, were discussing various tattoos, as both are aficionados of the art. The officer told Weisbaum he had a German Eagle tattooed on his chest “but not the Nazi kind.”
Weisbaum said there was then some conversation about the history of the swastika and how the Nazis appropriated the ancient symbol.
According to Weisbaum’s witness statement, “At no point did (he) state he wanted to get a tattoo of a swastika on his arm…”
Reeb said Tuesday she spoke to several witnesses at the scene and concluded the statement provided to the town by the neighbor was inaccurate. She said the officer’s statement on the matter was consistent with Weisbaum.
