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Tag: george brauchler

  • Douglas County adopts law requiring stores to report theft — but drops fines for failing to do so

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    Douglas County commissioners passed a measure Tuesday that requires hundreds of retail stores in unincorporated parts of the county to file a report with law enforcement when thieves rip them off.

    But unlike an initial version of the law that was made public in December, the county will levy no fines on retailers for failing to do so — instead leaving any decision about punishment to a local court.

    The first version of the law called for fines of $50, and all the way up to $1,000, for businesses that failed to report a crime. That caused some unease in the business community that Douglas County was overreaching.

    Commissioner Abe Laydon said during the business meeting Tuesday that the ordinance was not meant to punish retailers but to keep the community safe.

    “This is the most prosperous county in the state of Colorado — we don’t want us to become a target for organized crime,” he said. “When we tolerate organized retail theft, we normalize lawlessness.”

    The latest rendition of the ordinance increased the time — from 24 hours to 96 hours — that businesses will have to report a theft. It also allows a retailer to report a crime via an online form rather than have police called to the scene.

    That was enough to allay concerns from Chris Howes, the president of the Colorado Retail Council. In an attempt to make the measure more palatable to local businesses, he said his organization had some “fruitful discussions” with the county after the law was first unveiled.

    “We don’t feel it punishes retail,” he said. “The focus on retail crime is overall going to be a benefit to us.”

    District Attorney George Brauchler said he wants to get the message across that “we do not tolerate thieves.”

    “If you come here to steal from us, plan on staying,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “Business owners and citizens alike should know that we will continue to protect their property rights.”

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  • Family of man killed by Douglas County deputy files wrongful death suit

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    The Douglas County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a man in the parking lot of a Highlands Ranch arcade last year attacked him “unreasonably and excessively,” according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Monday by the man’s family.

    Jalin Seabron, 23, died after Douglas County Deputy Nicholas Moore shot at him nine times while responding to reports of an active shooter at Main Event, striking him with seven bullets in the back and side. Seabron was not the shooter, but he was armed.

    Seabron had pulled the gun out to defend his friends and family, who were celebrating his birthday with him at the arcade, 64 Centennial Blvd., according to the lawsuit.

    Moore “unreasonably and recklessly charged into the scene, … without adequately evaluating the situation, utilizing a position of cover, or waiting for backup,” the lawsuit alleges. The deputy fired all nine shots within 15 seconds of arriving in the Main Event parking lot, his body camera video showed.

    “Hey!” the officer is heard shouting in the video. “Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Now! Drop it!”

    A woman can also be heard in the video, crying out for Moore not to shoot.

    The warnings to drop the weapon happened over roughly three seconds. When Seabron didn’t immediately respond and turned his head toward Moore, not appearing to raise his weapon from his side, the deputy started shooting.

    “At the time Moore opened fire, Mr. Seabron still had his back to the deputy and had just barely started to turn his head in reaction to the yelled commands,” the lawsuit stated.

    Moore “wrongly assumed” Seabron was the shooter and shot him without “verifying whether Mr. Seabron actually posed a threat, or providing Mr. Seabron a reasonable opportunity to comply with commands,” the lawsuit alleges. Seabron didn’t have time to process the orders, let alone obey them, the document claims.

    George Brauchler, the 23rd Judicial District Attorney, declined to file criminal charges against Moore in April 2025, after a month-long investigation into the police shooting by the district’s critical incident response team, according to a decision letter he sent to Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly.

    The deputy gave Seabron several commands to drop his gun, but the commands all happened within three seconds, according to the decision letter. Moore did not verbally identify himself as law enforcement, and did not use his sirens while responding to the scene, the letter confirms.

    State law allows a police officer to forgo that announcement if they believe doing so “would unduly place peace officers at risk or would create a risk of death or injury to other persons,” Brauchler said during an April news conference.

    The shooting inside the Highlands Ranch arcade started as a fight in the bathroom between Seabron’s stepsister, 23-year-old Nevaeha Crowley-Sanders, and a friend she had known since high school. Authorities said Crowley-Sanders pulled out a handgun and shot at the 22-year-old victim, her friend, eight times.

    Crowley-Sanders was assaulted by a group of women in the restroom and fired her gun in self-defense, ending the altercation, according to the lawsuit. The woman shot by Crowley-Sanders survived her injuries, and Crowley-Sanders was charged with attempted murder.

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