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Subscribe to RSSNo charges will be filed in the death of a 19-year-old Colorado man who was physically restrained by a friend at a party after he exploded in a violent rage while high on bath salts, a prosecutor said.
Daniel Richards died April 10 from what the coroner determined was strangulation.
Grand Junction police said Richards became violent at the party, punching one man and threatening others with a large knife. A friend twice tried to restrain Richards and immobilize him with an arm around his neck, Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said.
Richards appeared to lose consciousness after being subdued the second time, Hautzinger said. Friends took him to a hospital, where he died.
"It was not a criminal act. I will not file criminal charges," Hautzinger announced Tuesday, the Denver Post reported.
Investigators said Richards had purchased several hundred dollars’ worth of bath salts before the party. The drug was found in his system, along with alcohol and traces of marijuana, according to the coroner.
As to why a charge of manslaughter was ruled out, Hautzinger was quoted as saying by KREX-TV:, "If I had a situation where someone was putting a choke hold on someone else who wasn't being violent or tweaked out on drugs ... or out of his gourd, as it were, then yes, we'd certainly be looking at manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide."
Hautzinger said Richards' mother is not happy with the decision. He and law enforcement authorities in Grand Junction are using the Richard's tragedy to warn others about the dangers of using the synthetic white powder.
Richards' death happened two months before the Colorado Legislature passed a law banning possession and sale of "bath salts" products.
"This was absolutely a tragedy. This was a death that did not need to happen," Hautzinger said, according to the Post. "Hopefully, some people will understand just how terrible these substances are."
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"Hautzinger said Richards' mother is not happy with the decision."
Let me guess, mommy's little angel? Could do no wrong?
Well, he'd had some issues but was turning his life around.
(eye roll)
Richards' mother had no real path out of this. Either bury a troubled son or visit the son in prison for harming someone else in a drug-fueled rage had he not been contained. Seems this is a fairer outcome for all involved.
Sad for all around this story including the mother of the 19 year old; however it was the right call from the Prosecutor's office.
If you read the article, it says at the end that they weren't outlawed until two months later. this was basically the same as if he had had a bit to much to drink
Mommy thinks the friend who unintentionally killed him should be held accountable. If that friend didn't step in, I'd fear there would be a lot of innocents injured or dead if this guy was let loose. The truth is that her son is responsible for his own death, he chose to ingest the bath salts sand create the situation that led to his demise. If not for the friend restraining him, there might be more than just her son dead. Prosecutors made the right decision, no jury would ever convict the friend, most people would see his actions as heroic. He placed himself at great risk restraining the victim twice, he or anyone else could have been seriously injured at any time. One person was already assaulted.
superaverageguy - the prosecutor is not making the decision based on the illegality / legality of the substance. He's making the decision based on the circumstance. This guy was completely out of control and was threatening people with a knife.
If he were stone sober and acting this way and this were the outcome, the decision would likely remain the same under the prosecutor's stated reasoning. If he were drunk and behaving this way, still the same outcome. And that's the way it should be.
The guy had to kill his friend to keep him from killing other people. It's a crap situation, but he did what he had to.
If it were my child I would of course be upset but it's very obvious the man did what he had to do... I'm sure the last thing in the world he wanted that night was to end up killing a friend of his. Mommy needs to wake up and take her head out of the sand.... I understand her being upset at her son's death but to be upset with the man who was just trying to protect the people around him is ridiculous. Somebody needs to show her a video of someone who's gone crazy on bath salts!
He did the right thing. There should be no charges.
the man is guilty, he chose to take the drug & committed the crime. We as nation are we going to stop making excuse for murderers & other violent criminals. Not guilty by drug & alcohl use, enough people.
DKJ, try reading the article again...
DKJ--The guy who took the drugs is the guy who died. He got high, wigged out, his friend restrained him to stop him from hurting somebody, and accidentally killed him. Did you actually read the article, or just the headline?
DK your a DS. I'm guessing that reading comprehension isn't your strong point. No wonder this country is so screwed up when so much of the population can't even grasp a simple news article.
Looks like DKJ got an early start on Happy Hour and maybe had a few too many adult beverages, huh?
Impairment is the only thing that could explain that post....
sadmoronsvote2, et al!
Y'all need to reread DKJ-4's post. He seems to be talking about the dead man, who is responsible for his own death.
Why would people still do bath salts after knowing what the risks are. I seen this video about bath salts was kinda funny.
For the exact same reason that people have been doing heroin for years knowing what the risks are.
fdancer, supposedly bath salts are prettty popular here in South Florida even with the bad press. Kids/people tend to think it can't happen to them and often think the press is just scare tactics. Bath Salts are giving real bath salts a bad name.
Glad to read an article concerning no prosecution based on common sense!
Why do people still do bath salts when they know what could happen. Heres a funny video i seen about bath salts.
There is a sad, tragic lesson to be learned here. Bath salts are an epidemic of much larger proportions than we see in the media. If you've never witnessed anyone under the influence of this junk, you cannot believe the behavior. Normally mild-mannered individuals behave like crazy people, i.e. 115 lb girl needed 8 large, male police officers to contain her. Warn your children and friends not to even try it, not even once!
Amazing what people will do to get high.
Excellent decision by the District Attorney.
The 'unhappy' mother is probably the reason why the druggie was a druggie.
now be nice to mom, i am sure this guy had a bunch of friends help him make the mistakes he made
He was turning his life around is a joke. He choose to do drugs. He could have and well might have killed someone. Good call by the authorities.
Good prosecutorial discretion here. This guy may have saved lives through his actions. I hope the friend realizes his actions ultimately saved people even if they resulted in the death of someone else. Some would find it hard to live with that sort of thing, but it is better to think about the lives saved rather than the life lost.
Much of the public is just now learning of the dangers of using 'bath salts'. Knowing what we now do, I absolutely agree that deadly force may be called for to restrain someone who is stupid enough to try chasing this ridiculous 'high'.
His mother was not happy about the decision? Her stupid, doped up, loser son was threatening people with knife. He was restrained by a person seeking to stop him from causing harm to other people and she now wants to ruin his future because of your dumb-ass offspring? Take responsibility for raising a loser dope-head. Don't blame others for your failure as a parent.
Good job Mr. Prosecuter, the right call was made.
Someone who uses drugs, please explain why anyone would want to take something that turns them into a raging lunatic? I thought the whole point of getting "high" is to feel good, not go insane.
Anyway, it is a tragic death, and I think prosecutors are wrong in not filing charges. Manslaughter is a law created for this type of un-intentional death. Let the people decide whether the accused is innocent or guilty, not law Enforcement! But, alas, this is the balloon-boy state, and the state in which former Arapahoe-County Sheriff Sullivan was sentenced to 30 days in jail after:
1. Trading meth for sex
2. Selling narcotics to public high school students
3. Attempting to bribe public officials
4. Getting male inmates out of jail in order to have sex with them.
He will never be convicted, and the prosecutors know this, which is one reason for not charging him. It was unintentional, but the reason was to protect others from being harmed by the drugged man. Many would consider his actions heroic, because the drugged man was violent towards others, even pulling a knife. I'm sure the friend is devastated at the death, he simply wanted to keep the drug crazed man from seriously harming others. The dead man had already punched someone. By restraining him, he was preventing the drugged man from harming himself and others, the strangulation was accidental.
Carol L - I fully agree with you. The prosecutors indeed new he would not get convicted. Remember, the man would have been entitled to a jury trial. Just based on these posts it is obvious to see what the likely concensus would be... not guilty. The prosecutors chose to not waste taxpayers money and judicial resources to prosecute an individual who was very likely to be deemed innocent.
mom if you are mad , use it start speaking out against drug abuse , america is killing its self trying to get high, your son was not killed by a friend he was killed by a drug he should not have used, why must people seek to destroy what god has given them. by the way i was on drugs for many years, till i meet jesus. mom god bless your heart and comfort you in your hour of need
He will not be missed.....seriously. His momma will but that is all.
You don't know that he will not be missed. For all you know this was a bright, caring boy with a promising future who made a mistake that cost him his life. I'm sure he will be missed by many including family and friends.
I'm sure people same the same about you... maybe that's why you're so cold and heartless. Most people who become addicted to drugs are highly intelligent, artistic and caring people who feel things at a deeper level and don't know how to cope with their emotions... so they try to suppress them instead. And we can see clearly that you are not an addict.. your comment proves you are none of those things.
ruwade, yours were very kind words. I wish all those reading them knew them, as I do, to be true.
"Bath Salts" are a replacement...supposedly...for MDMA or "ecstasy" but the dose/response curve is radically different! ...it takes longer to "kick in" so people take more, thinking they had a weak pill or powder. Once you pass a certain dosage, and it varies from person to person, the drug becomes radically different in effect. Often resulting in these rages or flip outs. When used responsibly, and with knowledge of HOW they work, these bad episodes don't occur.
Yeah, the "war on drugs" has failed. The susbstitutes for the illegal drugs people would rather have, are WORSE. Stop this silly war on freedom of personal choice. Regulate, educate, and re-instate personal choice and freedom.
"Used responsibly"? You're kidding, right?
I don't always smoke crack but when I do, I do so responsibly.
I'm not trying bath salts! If Colorado has passed a law banning it, yet just a few years ago they legalized marajuana, it must be bad stuff.
this shows just how stupid people are now, like taking other peoples meds when they have no idea what there for, or what they will do, oh and literally sniffing everything under the kitchen sink, oh and my favorite, drinking hand sanitizer, these idiots don't have a clue, theres MANMADE and NATUREMADE, one type is bad enough,but when you start eating,drinking,snorting,slaming,or smoking man made chemicals your a moron, and you are going to f-cking die or wish you did, i don't and won't feel sorry for anybody that does, and yes i know what im talking about, i see this sh-t almost every day, maybe this will weed out alot of idiots, so there still maybe hope for the future, if people learn anything from this sh-t thats going on, and if this is the generation were going to count on running this world in the future,...................we are all going to be screwed.
Yes, the drug war is an absolute failure and this is a part of the consequences.
So, the mother wants Colorado to try and execute, by lethal injection, the person who saved the crowd at the party because her son got killed while trying to kill people. What bath salts is she using???
You have to be really dumb to take that crap.
All I can say is anyone with half (or even less) of a brain --that ever watches TV or reads a newpaper or goes online to any of a million news sources--has heard about what balth salts can do to a person. If they STILL choose to use, knowing these things, they GET WHAT THEY DESERVE!!
Another candidate for the 2012 Darwin Award. And this proves that maybe Ron White is wrong. Maybe you CAN fix stupid.