FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The City of Fort Collins has agreed to pay a man a half a million dollars after he was arrested in 2021 for driving under the influence, while sober. A blood test proved it.
Jesse Cunningham was on vacation with his family out of state. In July 2021, they witnessed a car crash in Fort Collins, and stopped to render aid and give a statement to police.
Body worn camera footage captured what happened next: then-Officer Jason Haferman said he smelled alcohol on Cunningham. He noted the military veteran’s “glossy eyes.” Cunningham admitted he had two beers hours prior to witnessing the crash. He rated his impairment a zero on a scale of zero to 10 and volunteered for field sobriety tests. According to Haferman’s report, Cunningham did complete those field tests but, “did not complete them as a sober person.” But his blood results states otherwise as they all came back clean…