“It’s becoming a disturbingly familiar scene in America - mentally
unstable cops”
BOULDER, Colo. -- A Boulder police officer faces additional
charges, including attempted murder, after being arrested last weekend and
accused of stalking and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend and her new
boyfriend.
Broomfield police initially arrested Officer Christian
McCracken, 32, Saturday on charges of stalking, harassment and domestic
violence. The ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend are both Boulder police
dispatchers.
"It's an unfortunate incident is what it is,"
Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner said. "It's certainly troublesome when a
department member goes off and gets involved in any type of criminal activity,
especially something this serious." Boulder police said they issued a new
arrest warrant Thursday for McCracken on charges of suspicion of attempted
first-degree murder, two counts of stalking and one count of harassment. He
remains at the Broomfield County Jail on $500,000 bond.
"At the time of McCracken’s arrest, Boulder police
began a criminal investigation into information that he may have planned and
taken a significant step toward committing a homicide against the new
boyfriend," Boulder police spokeswoman Kim Kobel said in a news release.
"After consultation with the District Attorney’s Office, it was agreed
that probable cause existed to obtain an additional arrest warrant."
According to an arrest affidavit, McCracken was arrested
after he told his roommate and fellow Boulder Officer, John Smyley, that he was
going to track down and kill his former girlfriend and her boyfriend and then
kill himself.
As evidence that McCracken acted to carry out the threat,
police said he went to the Boulder Police Department on Friday and collected
two handguns and bullet magazines.
However, his roommate convinced McCracken to go for an
evaluation at Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was arrested early Saturday
morning.
"While we are concerned and saddened by the need to
arrest one of our own officers, we are primarily focused with the safety of our
employees and members of the community,” said Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner
in a statement Thursday.
"We're taking steps to make sure they're
protected," he said, referring to department employees.
"As information became available," Beckner said,
"it became increasingly apparent that we needed to act quickly. Our
detectives, in partnership with the District Attorney’s Office, did a great job
in putting this case together.”
The ex-girlfriend said she had been dating McCracken for
several years, according to the affidavit written by a Broomfield police
investigator. Broomfield police did the initial investigation because the
ex-girlfriend lives in that city.
"Up to this point he has been a good employee,"
Beckner said. "We have had no indication that anything like this was in
the works or that would happen with this employee."
Officer Suffered Brain Injury During On-Duty Assault
The woman said her relationship with McCracken started to
unravel after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in August 2011, when he was
assaulted on duty while breaking up a bar fight, the affidavit said.
McCracken was placed on medical leave. The girlfriend became
his caretaker, taking him to doctor appointments and spending much of her free
time looking after him, police said.
During his recovery, McCracken became more and more
"disconnected from reality," the ex-girlfriend told police.
She said in February McCracken called her and she could tell
he was troubled.
She drove to his house in Frederick and found him enraged,
the affidavit said.
"McCracken was throwing things and was out of
control," she told police.
She said she thought it was due to his head injury or
perhaps the medication.
The girlfriend called an ambulance to take him to the
hospital and also called police because she felt unsafe, the affidavit said.
After the incident, the woman said she began monitoring
McCracken's narcotic medication.
Affidavit: Officer Bought Illicit Painkillers
Days later, McCracken told her that he had illicitly bought
90 Percocet tablets from a bus driver who takes him on errands. Percocet is a
painkiller combining the narcotic oxycodone and acetaminophen.
A short time later, the officer called the woman at her
dispatcher job and said he was ending their relationship.
Then, he began calling her at work and at home, asking to
get back together with her.
The woman said she said made it clear that she wasn't
interested.
McCracken began barraging her with unwanted phone calls,
text messages, emails and Facebook postings, the affidavit said. He ranged from
politely asking for a reconciliation to yelling profanities and accusing her of
cheating on him.
"[She] felt like she was constantly looking over her
shoulder and had to 'watch her back,'" the affidavit said.
In March, the woman said, McCracken began making comments
that made her believe he was following her, the affidavit said.
The woman told police that McCracken talked about places she
had gone with her new boyfriend, the fellow dispatcher.
On April 26, she and her boyfriend had just returned from
dinner to her home when McCraken arrived and began pounding on the front door,
the affidavit said.
McCracken yelled that he'd seen the two out together and she
was cheating on him, the affidavit said.
McCracken left after a few minutes. The woman and her
boyfriend soon left because they feared for their safety, the affidavit said.
As the pair was leaving, McCracken called the woman's
cellphone and began yelling profanities and threatening the boyfriend, saying
he "better watch his back" and vowed to "kick his ass," the
affidavit said.
The woman asked McCracken why he was doing this, and he
replied that he wanted to hurt her, the affidavit said. The woman was so
frightened, she stopped living in her home, according to police.
The ex-girlfriend said that McCracken began calling other
Boulder police officers and dispatchers, telling them that he had been keeping
the ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend under surveillance. He accused these people
of being involved in a conspiracy with the ex-girlfriend, police said.
Several fellow dispatchers told the woman that McCracken had
made comments about spying on her and her boyfriend, watching them "making
out," the affidavit said.
"OMG!! He's Wacked!" one dispatcher messaged the
ex-girlfriend.
The ex-girlfriend told police several reasons why she feared
for her safety, the affidavit said.
She said that, before his head injury, McCracken had told
her that during his breakup with his former wife, he learned that she and a man
were having an affair.
McCracken recalled how he'd conducted surveillance of his
wife and her lover, including digging through their trash and monitoring their
email, the affidavit said.
"McCracken said that he had developed a detailed plan
to murder (his wife's) boyfriend, including having a schedule of their
movements," the affidavit said.
However, McCracken said he eventually dropped the plan, the
affidavit said.
McCracken also told his ex-girlfriend that he'd suffered
post-traumatic stress syndrome after serving in combat as a Marine in Iraq or
Afghanistan, the affidavit said.
On Friday, McCracken retrieved the two handguns and
magazines from the Boulder Police Department, where they'd been stored during
his medical leave, police said.
Learning that McCracken had obtained the guns, Boulder
police officials called the ex-girlfriend, warning that her life was in danger
and telling her to go to the Broomfield Police Department, the affidavit said.
Boulder police officials also informed their Broomfield counterparts about the
threat.
Meanwhile, McCracken went to meet Smyly, his roommate and
fellow officer, and told him of his plan to find his ex-girlfriend and her
boyfriend.
McCracken said he was going to shoot the boyfriend in the
head in front of the ex-girlfriend, then kill her, the affidavit said.
McCracken said he would then go into the mountains and kill himself.
Smyly convinced McCracken to go for an evaluation at the
hospital. Broomfield police officer later arrived to arrest him.
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mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent DOJ office on Police Misconduct.