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December 20, 2001 By Janelle Holden A Main Street wrestling match between three police officers and an uncooperative truck driver left few injuries, but entertained bystanders on Monday morning.
The truck driver, Dwight Gilmore of Houston, Texas, is being held in the Montezuma County Detention Center for allegedly assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and driving under the influence of drugs. According to Colorado State Trooper Don Sheppard, Gilmore, 54, was trying to leave the city in his semi-truck filled with produce when the police stopped him near the intersection of Main and Piñon Drive in Cortez. Earlier that morning, Gilmore had checked into Southwest Memorial Hospital with a leg problem, Sheppard said. The hospital called police after Gilmore tested positive for marijuana, amphetamines, and opiates. "He admitted to swallowing two little white pills another truck driver had given him, which were probably some kind of narcotic for pain," said Sheppard. The Cortez police then called CSP troopers Sheppard and David Van Bibber to assist. The three went to the hospital to talk to Gilmore. "He told us, right before we left, that he was going to get a motel room and we gave him strict orders that he was not to be driving. He wasn’t supposed to leave the parking lot of the hospital until the next morning (Tuesday)," said Sheppard. Just a few hours later, however, the hospital called to say Gilmore’s semi-truck was heading out of the parking lot and south on Mildred. Gilmore stopped when he saw state-patrol and Cortez police cars. Sheppard was called to assist in the arrest because Van Bibber needed to leave to teach a class. "While taking the guy out of the back seat of Van Bibber’s car, he resisted arrest, and we had to forcefully, physically, arrest him, and during the struggle I was injured. I injured my knee and my wrist slightly," said Sheppard. Sheppard said several people have called and asked for an explanation of the incident. "There were numerous witnesses. It was right out in the open, you know, on Main Street." Charges have yet to be filed against Gilmore. Bond was set at $25,000.
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
