Pueblo Police Chief speaks on ‘lack of properly investigating’ violent 2022 citizen’s arrest
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- In an exclusive interview with 13 Investigates, Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller said his department has referred misdemeanor assault charges to District Attorney Jeff Chostner's office for two men - one of which is a member of the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office, after a citizen's arrest.
Doug and Nate Cullison are accused of violently detaining and beating a man in September 2022. Months later in early April, the Pueblo Police Department re-opened its investigation into the incident after a video surfaced showing the violent interaction between the Cullisons and 24-year-old Alex Montoya.
The video shows Doug, a volunteer SWAT medic with PCSO, taking Montoya to the ground outside of Nick's Dairy Cream on Pueblo's east side on Sept. 14, 2022. Moments later Doug's son Nate, an MMA fighter, arrives on the scene and kicks Montoya's head before punching him for several minutes straight.
Eventually, four officers with the Pueblo Police Department arrived and spent 30 minutes investigating what happened.
The altercation and detainment of Montoya stemmed from an incident at a nearby school and Doug's wife. According to a police report, Doug had evidence that Montoya punched and spit on his wife.
According to a PPD report, Montoya was issued a ticket for battery and was released to the hospital. There was no indication that Doug or Nate were arrested or charged in connection to the incident initially.
Now, months later and after further investigation, Noeller said Montoya is facing 3rd-degree assault charges. However, so are the Cullisons.
Montoya's charge is connected to allegedly punching and spitting on Teresa Cullison. Doug and Nate face charges for assaulting Montoya outside the ice cream shop.
"The extent of the injuries would be one determining factor on what those charges would be. Right now, based on the information that we have, third-degree assault," Noeller said. "It makes sense to keep them both in the same level of court. The requirements for third-degree assault are that you were assaulted and caused pain, which is very similar to our battery."
The 911 call
13 Investigates obtained multiple 911 calls from that day, sent to PPD dispatchers by several concerned citizens who witnessed the incident involving the Cullisons and Montoya.
The first caller described the Cullisons interaction with Montoya as, "grown men with the kid laying on the floor with his hands and legs behind his back, like almost hogtied."
The second caller described what she saw as it happened. She said, "It looks like someone is getting beat up right outside of our store. Like physically there's a man pinning him down and two people beating the crap out of him pretty much."
That same caller continues by saying, "They're restraining him and he just got kicked in the head. I need someone here as soon as possible. Please, he's getting beat. It was very hard. I need someone here."
Chief Noeller confirmed that these calls were received by his dispatchers and those notes were provided to responding officers, but he said his officers on the scene should have used them to investigate further.
"We are looking at this event from a holistic standpoint that it's not just what did the officers do, but what are we as an organization doing to try to improve and build on that and become better public servants," Noeller said. "There's room for all of us to improve as an organization as individuals in different roles."
What police body-worn camera video shows
13 Investigates also obtained body-worn camera video from all four officers that arrived at the ice cream shop. The videos show Doug and Nate giving brief accounts of what happened to officers before they arrived at the scene.
Doug told the sergeant that he was "a part-time guy with the Sheriff's office," and that his wife had told him that Montoya "punched her." He said he told school officials at a school nearby to be on the lookout for Montoya before he followed him to the front of Nick's Dairy Cream. Cullison then told the officer he wanted to "detain" him and then wait for Pueblo Police to get there.
When the officer asked how Montoya became bloodied, Cullison claimed, "he was resisting us a bit and my son right here came and helped put him to ground."
When the officer asked if Montoya's injuries were from him "falling to the ground," Cullison replied, "Yeah they were."
Around 20 minutes later, another officer approached Nate and asked for his recollection of what happened. Nate describes that he rushed to the scene after hearing that his mother was "punched and spit on."
The responding officer said, "Yeah, that's [explicit] up" to Nate when he described him receiving information that his mom was allegedly punched by Montoya.
Nate went on to say that his dad "had him (Montoya)" and that he and his dad had to "wrestle him down a little bit."
Neither Cullison was cited by police on Sept. 14, 2022. That's something Chief Noeller told 13 Investigates should've been investigated further.
"I think it is certainly not a shining example of the work that we do every day, that we should have been a little bit more thoughtful in how we approach that investigation," Noeller said.
The body-worn camera video also shows the extent of Montoya's injuries, who appeared to have several lacerations on his face and bumps on the back of his head.
Montoya told officers that he "got punched" when he was being patted down by officers on the scene.
Noeller said the extent of Montoya's injuries played a part in deciding what charges to refer to the DA's office. If Montoya had suffered multiple broken bones or sustained "serious bodily injury" the charges could have been much more severe, including 2nd-degree assault, a felony in Colorado.
He added that Nate could not face more serious charges because he is a trained fighter. Noeller explained that because he knows how to fight the injuries he caused would be the determining factor on the level of assault.
Internal Affairs Investigation
After 13 Investigates aired footage of the assault on Montoya in early April, Chief Noeller opened an internal affairs investigation into what did and what didn't happen that September day.
Noeller said he did this to look for ways to improve and refer appropriate charges to the DA's office for this incident.
"I want to stress to the citizens of Pueblo that we take our jobs very seriously. I wanted to see where we can improve because what we want to do is try to improve as an organization and make sure that something like this doesn't happen again," Noeller said.
The Chief said that his officers' lack of properly investigating what happened was not a "cover-up" because Doug works as a volunteer medic with the Pueblo County Sheriff's office.
"We are human beings. We make mistakes," Noeller said. "It was a series of judgment errors and mistakes in police work. It shouldn't have ended up the way that it did. There's no doubt we're not happy. Again, I think it would be fair to say that the officers are not happy with the errors that they made."
Noeller said the officers on the scene included a School Resource Officer (SRO), a veteran sergeant, a patrol officer, and a recruit who was training to become a full-time patrol officer. He said all four men were "outstanding officers" that have had few if any problems during their tenures with the department.
"I just want to stress that each one of these officers are good officers. The sergeant that was there is an outstanding man who normally does really great things. The SRO is an outstanding officer. We get compliments on him and the work that he does all the time. This is a mistake. It was a series of events that led to a poor outcome, and it shouldn't have happened," Noeller said.
Noeller said he does not fault the Cullisons for wanting to detain Montoya before uniformed police arrived at the scene if that was what solely took place.
"I'll be honest with you, as a husband, if I saw the individual that punched my wife in the face, I would probably detain them as well, whether I was a cop or not," Noeller admitted.
However, the chief said that there are lines that cannot be crossed when attempting to make a "citizens arrest," including not physically harming that person before police can investigate if a crime took place.
"I would encourage people to be very cautious when they want to approach somebody. Some of these individuals are extremely dangerous, and stepping in and putting hands on somebody is something that could potentially go bad for the individual who's trying to help," Noeller said.
13 Investigates reached out to DA Chostner to see if he plans to formally file charges against one or all parties involved. He issued a statement saying: "We just received the investigation yesterday, so we’re still reviewing the facts/law at this point."
Doug and Nate Cullison have not responded to 13 Investigates request for comment on their actions.
