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Kremmling man suing town in federal court alleges officers violated his civil rights

More than two years after a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court, a jury trial is now underway in the case of a Kremmling resident who alleged that Kremmling police officers had violated his civil rights.

Robert Mark Smith of Kremmling filed the suit in March 2015, stemming from an incident that allegedly occurred two years earlier, naming the town of Kremmling, its chief of police and two officers as defendants.

It was alleged that on March 5, 2013, officers from the Kremmling Police Department and deputies from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office illegally entered Smith’s home to investigate an alleged incident of domestic violence, according to the complaint filed with the court.

Smith alleged in the complaint that Kremmling Police Officers Robert Dillon and Todd Wilson, along with former Sheriff’s Deputy Zachary Luchs, entered his home without a warrant or any exigent circumstances and used excess force, physically beating Smith, in the process of taking him into custody.

According to the complaint, the actions of the officers were retaliatory for Smith’s vocal complaints about the town’s administration of mobile home park regulations, which Smith contends are unfairly enforced on the mobile home park he owns in Kremmling.

Proceedings in the case began Monday morning inside a U.S. District Courtroom in Denver, with Judge Richard Matsch presiding. Sources familiar with the case told Sky-Hi News on Monday that it could last throughout the week, if not longer.

The complaint filed by Smith in 2015 originally listed three members of the Grand County Sheriff’s Office as defendants, including Daniel Mayer, Zachary Luchs and Mike Reed, but they were later dropped from the suit.

Mark Campbell, Kremmling town manager, declined to comment on the lawsuit while it is ongoing. Officials from the Kremmling Police Department were unavailable for comment Monday afternoon.

Smith is represented by Darold Killmer of Killmer, Lane & Newman Law Offices in Denver. The town of Kremmling, Chief Scott Spade and Dillon and Wilson are being represented by Josh Adam Marks of Berg Hill Greenleaf & Ruscitti of Boulder.

Sky-Hi News will be reporting on this story as the trial continues. Stay tuned to our website for updates.

Bryce Martin, editor of Sky-Hi News, contributed to this report.


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