This one's a doozie. Kell Hulsey, an off-duty Greeley, Colorado police officer and his son Daniel attacked a man (Brian Carter, pictured) on Sunday at the Pot Belly Deli Bar and Restaurant in Red Feather Lakes. They apparently thought the man, who has a lazy eye, was gay and checking Daniel out, the Greeley Tribune reports:
“Dave Duty, 50, of Livermore is the owner of the Potbelly Deli and Bar, 24340 Larimer County Road 74E, where the altercation occurred. He said Greeley police Sgt. Kell Hulsey punched one of his regular patrons after Kell Hulsey's son, Daniel Hulsey, 28, of La Salle thought Brian Carter, 35, of Red Feather Lakes was gay and checking him out. Duty said he was behind the bar when the brawl broke out on the bar's deck between several locals and the Hulseys. Both Duty and bartender Sean McGlothlen, 21, of Greeley, who was working the night of the fight, said Kell Hulsey threw the first punch. ‘The fact that he is going out and starting a bar fight is really disturbing,' McGlothlen said. ‘It scares me that he is allowed to carry a badge.' The fight took place on a small wooden deck connected to the dimly lit bar lined with posters and filled with tables and two pool tables. The night of the fight, the bar, which connects to a karaoke room and restaurant, had about 100 people in it, Duty said. During the altercation, Daniel Hulsey, who was later arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault, took a pint glass and smashed it into Carter's head, Duty said. Carter, who was flown by helicopter to Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, where he received close to 20 stitches, declined to comment on the incident.”
According to the Denver Channel, both elder and younger Hulseys cowardly fled from the scene: “Witnesses said, the attacker fled on foot, deputies said. Using a K-9 search dog, sheriff's deputies were able to track him down and arrested Daniel Stephen Hulsey, Campanella said. Hulsey, 28, was booked into the Larimer County Detention Center on third-degree assault charges, she said.”
Here's another account of what happened, via the Coloradoan: “Out on the deck, Daniel Hulsey, the 27-year-old son of a Greeley police sergeant, was upset because one of the locals was looking at him funny. ‘Brian has a lazy eye, and the younger Hulsey was accusing him of being gay,' Duty said. Brian Carter, one of the alleged victims of the fight who was hit over the head with a broken beer pint glass, was taken to Poudre Valley Hospital where he received fewer than 20 stitches, Carter said. Kell Hulsey, a member of the Greeley Police Department for 20 years, punched David Gniady, Carter's roommate, locals said. ‘He yelled, ‘I'm a cop and I'm a (expletive) ,' Gniady said. A fight involving up to 15 people ensued on the deck; and Duty, his staff and several locals ran to break it up. Kell Hulsey then threw several punches at another local before things settled down and he jumped off the deck yelling, ‘You'll all die for this,' and leaving his son behind, witnesses said. ‘For a cop, someone who should be breaking up a fight, to start a fight and flee when his son is here and going to be arrested, I mean…people that say he's a nice guy weren't here that night,' Duty said.”
The officer, Kell Hulsey, is under investigation, and more arrests may be made, according to reports. The bar owner, David Duty, says he plans on filing a civil suit and seeking restitution. Red Feather Lakes is northwest of Fort Collins, Colorado, near the Wyoming border.
(thanks, Ryan)
