In the future, if you are contacted by a member of law enforcement or the Colorado Avalanche Information Center about your backcountry activities, invoke your 5th amendment constitutional right to remain silent and say nothing.
Posted: October 14, 2020 Filed under: Avalanche, Colorado, Skiing / Snow Boarding | Tags: avalanche, Eisenhower Tunnel, Go Fund Me, I-70, Reckless Endangerment, Summit County Leave a commentDistrict Attorney is chasing to men who possibly set off an avalanche. District Attorney’s actions will probably kill more people.
What you say may be sued against you in court, as the case with Tyler DeWitt of Silverthorne and Evan Hannibal of Vail. Read the articles listed below to get various facts about what happened. But basically, they were backcountry skiing and set off an avalanche. The debris filled cover a road and took out a remote avalanche triggering device.
“Very large avalanche” buries road near Eisenhower Tunnel
2 men cited for reckless endangerment after triggering avalanche near Eisenhower Tunnel
Because of this, the Summit County District Attorney Charged the two men with Reckless Endangerment. Under Colorado law Reckless Endangerment is:
Colorado Statutes
Title 18. CRIMINAL CODE
Article 3. Offenses Against the Person
Part 2. ASSAULTS
Current through Chapter 326 of the 2020 Legislative Session
§ 18-3-208. Reckless endangerment
A person who recklessly engages in conduct which creates a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to another person commits reckless endangerment, which is a class 3 misdemeanor.
Cite as C.R.S. § 18-3-208
A class three misdemeanor will not ruin your life, but it will make it miserable. Worse, the DA is asking for restitution for the damage done to clear the road and the avalanche triggering device in the amount of $168,000. How many working skiers and boarders in the backcountry have that amount of money sitting around? That too will assist in their running their lives.
The charges and the restitution will not kill anyone. However, Avalanche reporting and research will come to an end. Who knows what DA will decide they don’t like backcountry skiers and just start thumbing through Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) reports looking for ways to eliminate backcountry skiing and boarding?
This is NOT the fault of the CAIC. As a state agency, they have no way to protect the reports that they receive and must turn them over to any other state agency, including district attorneys.
This is also sad; the backcountry ski community has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for CAIC over the years and had a great relationship with the CAIC. The CAIC is a great organization with awesome people, some who are the best in the world at what they do.
But I’m not going to jail to help!
I keep trying to figure out the motivation for the District Attorney’s actions. The chance of getting any money out of these two men is zero. Does he want to keep people from going out in the backcountry? Probably. No doubt there is going to be a lot of Search & Rescue this winter based on sales of backcountry equipment. However, idiots in the backcountry is not a new thing.
Instead of wasting the time, money, and resources to prosecute these two men, which will not stop idiots in the backcountry, why not try to educate them.
Besides, any expert who is going to get on the stand and say that these two triggered the avalanche is possibly wrong. Even with the men saying on tape, they started the slide; they could still be wrong.
If you would like to contribute money to support Evan Hannibal’s attempt to raise money for an attorney, go here: Facing Criminal Charges in the Backcountry.
Do Something
Contribute to Evan Hannibal’s Go Fund Me: Facing Criminal Charges in the Backcountry.
Contact the Fifth judicial District (Summit County) and let the DA know they are not solving problems but creating more: https://www.da5.us/reach-our-offices/summit-county/
Contact Friends of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center and tell them to get a bill in the state legislature that would provide immunity for reporting to backcountry skiers: https://www.avalanche.state.co.us/contact/
Contact the Summit Daily News and express your opinion about how stupid and dangerous this is on the part of the District Attorney: https://www.summitdaily.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/
Contact the Denver Post and do the same: https://www.denverpost.com/submit-letter/
Show up at the criminal hearings and support these two men. Be respectful of the court, the judge and court personnel have nothing to do with this mess. It was handed to them by the District Attorney. Be considerate, respectful, quiet, turn off your phones and sit quietly, but be there.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
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By Recreation Law Rec-law@recreation-law.com James H. Moss
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