Grand Junction attorney Greg Hoskin claims in a letter he was threatened former Colorado State Trooper Dale Smith on May 5th, 2012. The lawyer who has practiced in Grand Junction for nearly 50 years; currently at Hoskin, Farina and Kampf.

Greg says the trooper stopped he and his wife on Colorado Highway 141, near highway 50, and was very aggressive. He describes the former trooper  as a "bully with a badge and gun on a motorcycle" alledging the former trooper reached for his gun at one point.

The former trooper claimed Greg was speeding and endangering bicyclists, which is what he and his wife had just finished doing in Unaweep Canyon. Leaving him with a ticket for going 10 - 19 mph over the speed limit. That ticket was dismissed according to the Mesa County District Attorney's Office.

"He proceeded to lecture me in a very strong voice about the danger of drivers like me to bicyclists, and I tried to explain that I am a bicyclist and I'm extremely careful of them. He irritated me substantially and I told him that the risk on the road to bicyclists was worse from the G**-damned motorcyclists."

 

He says the trooper "took a step back from the window" and asked, "Are you cussing me?" At that point Greg alleges the trooper put his hand on his gun.

Hoskin added to his letter,

"I was very conscious of the recent acquittal of trooper Ivan Lawyer for killing an unarmed man in his own home. I consider the contact by an official of the State of Colorado to be absolutely unacceptable."

 

The trooper in question, Dale Smith, resigned in July with the Colorado State Patrol. The Colorado State Patrol says they were unaware of this until now adding, "He's no longer with us so there's really nothing we can do to react."

Greg says he waited so long to bring awareness to his encounter because he was trying to figure out how to address the issue.

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