Treven Hunter
Treven Hunter

The Boulder County District Attorney's Office is seeking to re-arrest a man who was accused of assaulting a police officer and then released on a $500 bond, now that prosecutors have learned he already was on probation for another alcohol-related offense and appears to have left the state.

In a motion filed Thursday in Boulder County Court seeking an arrest warrant, prosecutors said they weren't given a chance to object to the low bond for Treven Hunter, 23, when a judge set it by phone Sunday without holding a hearing.

Hunter faces charges of second-degree assault, third-degree assault, resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer in connection with a Friday night incident that left Officer Christian McCracken hospitalized for several days.

Boulder police Chief Mark Beckner also expressed concern Thursday about Hunter's $500 bond, saying it seemed insufficient.

"The officers here are a bit puzzled," Beckner said. "Something didn't work for this one. I don't know what it is. I don't know how this got through the cracks."

Trouble at the Sink

Hunter was arrested Friday after a manager at The Sink, 1165 13th St., called police to say Hunter would not leave the bar and was refusing to pay a $3 tab. The manager said Hunter punched him repeatedly as he tried to escort the University of Colorado student from the bar, causing minor injuries.

Officer McCracken tried to take Hunter into custody on the street, but Hunter was uncooperative, according to police, and began assaulting McCracken, hitting him several times in the head, causing him to black out.

According to court records, McCracken reported a headache and nausea shortly after the fight and was having trouble remembering parts of the incident. Fellow officers noticed McCracken was responding strangely to their questions and was not making sense.

McCracken was hospitalized with what appears to be a serious head injury.

"He has suffered a brain injury that has caused him to not remember the events from that evening and has caused other memory loss," prosecutors wrote in a motion filed Tuesday objecting to the $500 bond. "Officer McCracken is not oriented to time, place or his personal circumstances."

Out of hospital

By Thursday afternoon, McCracken had been released from the hospital. Boulder police spokeswoman Kim Kobel said McCracken has asked for privacy, and the department is honoring that request.

According to court records, prosecutors did not learn how serious McCracken's injuries were until Monday morning. By that time, Hunter already had bonded out of jail.

It is common practice for judges in Boulder County to set bonds on Sundays without input from prosecutors or attorneys representing inmates arrested over the weekend.

According to jail records, Chief District Judge Roxanne Bailin handled the bond settings last Sunday. Bailin could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

'We are concerned'

District Attorney Stan Garnett said his first priority is ensuring that Hunter comes back to Colorado to face charges in the alleged assault. However, the case raises questions about how bond is handled over weekends.

"As we laid out in the motion, we are concerned with the way the bond was handled," he said. "When you have a situation like this, you want to look closely at how this happened."

In the first motion objecting to the low bond, prosecutors cited Colorado statute that gives them the right to be at bond hearings and argued that $500 was too low for a second-degree assault. Many lesser crimes have higher bond amounts set by statute.

In the new motion filed Thursday, prosecutors said they have learned that Hunter already was on probation for driving while ability impaired. As a condition of his probation, he was not supposed to drink alcohol or have any new contact with law enforcement. He also was supposed to notify his probation officer if he got in trouble.

According to the motion, Hunter did not tell his probation officer about his new arrest and left the state on Tuesday for a pre-planned trip to California.

Hunter had permission for the trip to visit his parents under the terms of his probation. However, a condition of his bond in the assault case was that he not leave the state, and he did not clear the trip again after the new arrest.

Hunter is scheduled to come back to Boulder before his next court date on Aug. 18.

Seeking witnesses

Additionally, police still are looking for witnesses who may have taken video or pictures of the incident. Those with information are asked to contact Detective Kurt Foster at 303-441-4329.
