Story at a glance
- The Denver Post reports Scott Gudmundsen, 66, pulled a gun on CSU football player Barry Wesley and his colleague on June 11 and forced the two to get on the ground.
- He then knelt on Wesley’s neck and put the weapon to his back, accusing the two of being “antifa” and terrorists.
- Prosecutors decided against filing hate crime charges in the incident.
A former police officer who held a Black Colorado State University (CSU) student at gunpoint while he was working as a door-to-door roofing salesman last year was sentenced to four years probation Tuesday.
The Denver Post reports Scott Gudmundsen, 66, pulled a gun on CSU football player Barry Wesley and his colleague on June 11 and forced the two to get on the ground. He then knelt on Wesley’s neck and put the weapon to his back, accusing the two of being “antifa” — a left-wing, anti-fascist political movement — and terrorists.
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He then reportedly told Wesley he would not kill him but that police would.
Gudmundsen pleaded guilty to a single felony count of menacing with a weapon, and prosecutors decided against filing hate crime charges.
His lawyers said he was experiencing a mental health crisis during the incident and thought he was part of a “culture war.” The news outlet reports Gudmundsen suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
“I can still feel how hard and how fast my heartbeat was,” Wesley reportedly said in court Tuesday.
“I can still remember the amount of adrenaline in my body…I was certain my death was going to be another hashtag, another reason for people to protest, because it was clear that to Mr. Gudmundsen my Black life did not matter,” he said.
Gudmundsen apologized in court and said a knee surgery he had recently undergone at the time left him in a fog.
“I’m trying to scratch my head and figure out what happened and why I acted the way I did,” he said.
“The anesthesia I was under apparently had a lasting effect on me and I was strange in the head for about six weeks…I apologize to the victims. I’m sorry,” he said.
The judge in the case said she was constrained by terms in Gudmundsen’s plea deal and could not sentence him to prison.
Qusair Mohamedbhai, Wesley’s attorney, had previously petitioned the court to force prosecutors to file hate crime charges in the case but was unsuccessful. He called the lack of hate crime charges “outrageous.”
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