Sheriff’s candidate defendant in lawsuit payout

By Teresa L. Benns
MONTE VISTA — A Saguache County candidate for sheriff was named as a defendant in a recent lawsuit settled with the city of Monte Vista and the Rio Grande Sheriff’s Office.
High profile Denver Attorney David Lane with the firm Killmer, Lane and Newman LLP represented the Rafael Delgado Sr. family of Monte Vista in a suit filed in Federal District Court in May. Noble Havens, running on the Democrat ticket for Saguache Sheriff, was involved in what Lane described as a home invasion.
Court documents filed by Lane’s firm claim Monte Vista Police, using Rio Grande Sheriff’s deputies Havens and Tyler Dean as backup, entered the Delgado home without the required search warrant, as body cameras worn by the officers recorded and their own statements verified.
According to Lane’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver:  
“Officer Bordewick and Deputy Havens were the first law enforcement officials to arrive. Upon arrival, Officer Bordewick and Deputy Havens immediately drew their firearms or tasers and entered the house’s back yard. Neither officer announced himself as a law enforcement official.
“Though Rafael Ivan Delgado, Jr. was never armed, had never behaved aggressively towards Defendants, had cooperated with each and every one of Defendants ‘directives, and in fact had done nothing illegal at any relevant time, Defendants, including Deputy Havens and Corporal Dean, refused to remove the handcuffs from his wrists after they transported his father from the scene
“As police officers, Defendants had an affirmative duty to intercede on behalf of Plaintiffs when their constitutional rights were being violated by other Defendant Officers. Defendants had an affirmative constitutional duty to stop the other Defendant Officers from using unconstitutionally excessive force.
“Defendants intentionally failed to intervene and prevent the other Defendant Officers from unconstitutionally entering Plaintiffs’ residence and/or Defendants’ actions and in actions during the encounter with Plaintiffs directly facilitated and contributed to other Defendant Officers unconstitutionally entering Plaintiffs’ residence.”
In an article that appeared in Westword Sept. 11, Lane told reporter Michael Roberts: “Once we made these Rio Grande County cops and the Monte Vista cops come to court, they realized, ‘‘This isn’t my courthouse. This isn’t my judge.’ They started to see the light of day and settled it.” Roberts commented that “the officers involved came out of the situation more or less unscathed.”
Havens also escaped conviction in January 2011 when the assistant district attorney in the case asked the judge to dismiss charges against Havens and a friend, who pled not guilty to five felony menacing charges each. Both men successfully pled self-defense in the case.
Anonymous posts to Facebook last month accused Sheriff Dan Warwick of settling an employee claim for medical compensation in Federal District Court, but the claim did not proceed to that level. Instead it was settled out of court by Saguache County commissioners, Warwick said.
The Facebook posts also targeted Rio Grande Sheriff Brian Norton.

Background
The following article appeared in the Valley Courier Tuesday, Sept. 18.
Rio Grande County and the City of Monte Vista agreed to pay more than $290,000 to settle the 2016 incident. The settlement also called for the insurer for the City of Monte Vista to pay two-thirds of the mediation costs with the insurer for the county paying the other third.
According to Lane, who represented plaintiffs Rafael Delgado Sr., Rafael Delgado Jr. and Annabelle Delgado, the law enforcement officers involved in the May 10, 2016 incident caused physical harm particularly to Delgado Sr., 66 at the time, who had to have shoulder surgery as a result.
Monte Vista Police Officer defendants in the suit were Joseph Ruybal, David Pino and Matthew Bordewick.
The Monte Vista officers and Rio Grande Sheriff’s Office deputies went to the Delgado home after receiving a call from a neighbor that Delgado Jr. was walking around the neighborhood with a gun, which was later determined to be a BB gun. After arriving at the Delgado home in search of the younger Delgado, who was living with his parents at the time, the officers also learned there was an active warrant for the senior Delgado for failure to appear for a traffic citation.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys maintained the Delgados posed no threat to the officers but were handled roughly, with the older Delgado stunned by a Taser at one point, and that the father was injured during the arrests. The attorneys stated that the officers’ body cameras bore out their account of the incident.
“Defendants unjustifiably and without provocation escalated the encounter into a brutal violation of the Delgados’ constitutional rights,” the suit stated.
The suit stated that Delgado Sr.’s shoulder was injured during the incident, requiring surgery, and he has not been able to work since that time. He is a manual laborer.
Officers charged the senior Delgado with felony first-degree assault on a police officer and menacing in addition to misdemeanor charges of obstructing government operations, resisting arrest and criminal mischief. The junior Delgado was charged with disorderly conduct. All charges against the Delgados were ultimately dismissed.
Lane stated that his firm filed the lawsuit as a last resort after negotiations failed.
This is not the first time the Monte Vista PD had been sued by Delgado Sr., who also settled with the department after a 2003 incident. At that time he also claimed to be the victim of excessive force by police officers.