Jesse Cunningham was just trying to help. In July 2021, the military veteran was driving through Fort Collins, Colorado with his family when they came upon a serious motorcycle crash. Cunningham, who has medical training from his time as a military police officer, jumped out of his car and helped stabilize an injured rider’s leg while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
That good deed turned into a nightmare. Once officers showed up and Cunningham gave his witness statement, one of them, Officer Jason Haferman, decided Cunningham smelled like alcohol. Cunningham admitted he’d had two beers hours earlier, well before he ever got behind the wheel, and repeatedly asked for a breathalyzer to clear things up on the spot.
That request was denied. Haferman claimed Cunningham’s prescription for Adderall would mess with a breath test, even though Cunningham explained he hadn’t taken any on the trip. Instead, Haferman ran him through field sobriety tests and reported that Cunningham failed them, a conclusion his own attorney later called flatly contradicted by the body camera footage. Cunningham was arrested for DUI, and because his daughters were in the car, he was also booked on suspicion of child abuse…