New Colorado rock throwing incident prompts felony investigation: "It's not a prank ... won't be tolerated"
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says it will likely recommend felony charges against three Colorado elementary school students -- one an 11 year old and two others who are both 10 years old -- after they allegedly threw multiple large rocks from their school bus that then hit a car passing in the other direction.
CBS
"It's disturbing. It's absolutely not funny," said Jefferson County Sheriff's Public Information Officer Jacki Kelley. "It's not a prank. It's criminal and it won't be tolerated."
She called the incident "eerily similar" to the 2023 rock throwing incident that killed Alexa Bartell. In that case, three men were in a speeding truck when one threw a landscaping rock that smashed through Bartell's windshield and killed the 20-year-old woman.
The most recent incident occurred May 8 when the boys were headed to school on a Jefferson County Public Schools bus. According to investigators, two rocks were thrown from the bus at a car passing in the other direction. The rocks were "described to me as 6 inch boulders or landscaping rocks," said Kelley.
She said one bounced off the car but another struck with such force that it became lodged in the car's radiator.
The woman driving the car was not hurt, but her car received substantial damage, according to Kelley.
"She stopped," said Kelley, "picked up one of the rocks, turned around and followed the bus to school."
It had gone to Kyffin Elementary School in Golden, where Jeffco Public Schools staff members examined video from onboard cameras and were quickly able to identify the boys.
The Jefferson County sheriff says when it presents its case to the district attorney, it will recommend felony criminal mischief charges against all three, along with charges of reckless endangerment -- a misdemeanor.
"We're disturbed this is happening again," said Kelley. "It's not a prank and it won't be handled that way in Jeffco if this should happen again."
CBS
Parents of Kyffin students were notified of the incident via a letter from the school principal May 8. Pam Virden wrote that there had been "recent inappropriate behavior on your student's bus. We have received multiple reports about students throwing items out of the bus windows," said the letter. It did not mention the items were rocks. "This behavior is unacceptable," reads the letter, which says the school took disciplinary action.
A school district spokesperson said, "the purpose of the letter was to provide enough information so that families could have a conversation with their children about appropriate behavior. The point was to reiterate what is expected of students when on the bus, not the incident itself."
Asked if the May 8 case might be a "copycat" case stemming from publicity around the Bartell court proceedings, Kelley said she did not know but said "Anyone throwing projectiles at a driver of a moving vehicle should understand the potential consequences of doing that."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
CSPD looking for missing at-risk 35-year-old man
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) is looking for a missing at-risk adult who police said suffers from a form of Alzheimer's. CSPD said 35-year-old Paul Rodriguez was last seen on Monday, June 9, at 9 a.m. walking north on North Academy Boulevard toward Monetebello Drive. According to CSPD, Rodriguez suffers from a form of Alzheimer's. Rodriguez is described as a white man, 5'7″, 125 lbs, with brown hair and blue eyes; he also has a back tattoo that reads 'Rodriguez.' Rodriguez was last seen wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, orange joggers with a black stripe down the sides, and a black backpack. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
7 hours ago
- CBS News
Two of Colorado's biggest unions join a state employee in suing Gov. Jared Polis
Colorado WINS, a union representing 27,000 state employees, and the AFL-CIO say they are joining a top official in the Department of Labor and Employment in suing Gov. Jared Polis after they say he ordered state employees to commit illegal acts. "We are outraged as state employees that our governor wanted us to actively support that assault on our community and make us as state workers accomplices in an illegal and morally reprehensible act," says Diane Byrne, President of Colorado WINS. At issue is a subpoena for information -- including addresses and phone numbers -- on 35 individuals who the Department of Homeland Security says are listed as sponsors of unaccompanied children who are in the U.S. illegally. The agency has apparently lost track of the kids and says they may be subject to crimes of human trafficking or other forms of exploitation. While two laws, signed by Polis, bar state employees from sharing personally identifying information for immigration enforcement, they make an exception for criminal investigations. The governor ordered employees at the Department of Labor and Employment to comply with the subpoena. CBS A spokesperson for the governor says, "The decision to respond to this federal subpoena due to concerns about potential crimes against vulnerable minors was carefully considered in accordance with Colorado law, which allows for sharing information to support timely criminal investigations." Scott Moss, a director at the Department of Labor and Employment, disagrees. He notes the subpoena wasn't issued by a judge and is titled "Immigration Enforcement Subpoena." He sued the governor. State Sen. Julie Gonzalez went a step further, suggesting Polis should step down. "I don't know about you but, Jared Polis has broken my trust," she said. She says Polis has also broken the trust of individuals who were promised their information would be protected from immigration agents. David Seligman is Executive Director of Towards Justice, a civil rights organization that has also joined the lawsuit. He says the Governor's directive doesn't make sense. "So why is the governor going out of his way to help Donald Trump and ICE?" Seligman said. The governor's spokesperson says: "Helping federal law enforcement partners locate and, if necessary, rescue children being abused and trafficked is not only in line with the law but also a moral imperative." It's estimated 75%-80% of unaccompanied children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border are victims of human trafficking. The lawsuit was filed in Denver District Court and will be heard in a couple weeks.
Associated Press
8 hours ago
- Associated Press
Election conspiracy theorist sticks by false 2020 claims in defamation trial
DENVER (AP) — One of the nation's most prominent election conspiracy theorists, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, stuck by his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen while testifying Monday during a defamation trial over statements he made about a former official for a leading voting equipment company. Taking the stand for the first time during the trial, Lindell denied making any statements he knew to be false about Eric Coomer, the former product strategy and security director for Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems. Among other things, Lindell accused Coomer of being 'a part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen.' Lindell also distanced himself from a story told by a conservative podcaster who accused Coomer of helping to rig the 2020 election. It was discussed during a 2021 symposium Lindell hosted to discuss election fraud. Lindell said he did not know about the story before it was discussed onstage at the event and only learned about it during the trial. Coomer said his career and life have been destroyed by statements Lindell made about him and allowed to be promoted through his online media platform, Frankspeech. During sometimes rambling testimony in federal court in Denver, Lindell painted himself as the victim of 'lawfare' — when people are sued to scare them into silence. Several conservative news organizations, including Fox News,Newsmax and One America News, have settled defamation lawsuits from voting machine companies over allegations that they promoted falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election. In 2021, Newsmax also apologized to Coomer for airing false allegations against him. Nevertheless, Lindell said he hoped his trial would lead people to look at what happened in the election and get rid of electronic voting machines, which have been targeted in a web of conspiracy theories. Reviews, recounts and audits in the battleground states where Trump contested his 2020 loss all affirmed Democrat Joe Biden's victory. Trump's own attorney general at the time said there was no evidence of widespread fraud, and Trump and his allies lost dozens of court cases seeking to overturn the result. Lindell said he never accused Coomer of rigging the election, but he testified that Coomer's claims led Newsmax to block him from being able to go on air to talk about voting machines. 'You're part of the biggest coverup of the biggest crime the world has ever seen,' he said to the Coomer lawyer questioning him, Charles Cain. Lindell said he used to be worth about $60 million before he started speaking out about the 2020 election, and now he has nothing and is $10 million in debt. 'I believe what you did to me and MyPillow was criminal,' he said to Cain during questioning. Both Cain and U.S. District Judge Nina Wang had to remind Lindell several times to listen to the questions and only provide the answers to them, rather than head off on tangents. During the trial, Coomer's attorneys have tried to show how their client's life was devastated by the series of conspiracy theories about him. Lindell was comparatively late to seize on Coomer, not mentioning him until February 2021, well after his name had been circulated by other Trump partisans. Coomer said the conspiracy theories cost him his job, his mental health and the life he'd built and said Lindell's statements were the most distressing of all. He specifically pointed to a statement on May 9, 2021, when Lindell described what he believed Coomer had done as 'treason.' Asked by his attorney what he wants out of the trial, Coomer said he would like an apology, compensation and 'a chance of rehabilitating my public image.' Lindell's attorneys argued that Coomer's reputation was already in tatters by the time Lindell mentioned him — partly because of Coomer's own Facebook posts disparaging Trump, which the former Dominion employee acknowledged were 'hyperbolic' and had been a mistake. 'Your reputation was shattered long before Mr. Lindell said a word about you,' Chris Katchouroff said to Coomer. Katchouroff noted that Lindell also is known for making hyperbolic statements and that what he said about Coomer was simply the result of his sincere concern over vote-rigging in the 2020 presidential election — a claim for which there is no evidence. ___ Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.
