By Shannon Lukens for Steamboat Radio/Blizzard Broadcasting. File photo of Gondola Transit Center.
Steamboat Springs Police are looking for a man (or men) allegedly involved in an assault on a Meadows Parking Lot shuttle bus driver.
It happened around 1:55 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, in the Gondola Transit Center (GTC) at the base of Steamboat Resort. That’s when the call came in to dispatch.
Officers responded to a fight in progress where a shuttle bus driver named Ricardo (last name omitted) “had been assaulted by a rider who had since left the scene.” That’s according to the Police Report.
That report says the original call that came in to dispatch reported at least 12 people involved in the fight. But the reporting officer, W. Copeland, says the fight had broken up by the time he arrived. When the officer got to the transit center, a shuttle bus was parked there with its hazard lights on.
The report says, “Officers began to walk around the base of the mountain and ended up locating security and the involved shuttle bus driver, identified as (full name redacted) “Ricardo.” Ricardo stated that he was leaving the GTC to take a group of passengers down to the Meadows parking lot when one of them became unruly. He said that they kept turning up the music despite being told not to. Ricardo said that he stopped the shuttle and told them to get off. When he did, the passenger elbowed Ricardo in the face. Ricardo said he grabbed the passenger and shoved him out of the shuttle. Shortly after, another passenger joined in. Ricardo said he remembered other passengers coming to his aid to separate the two suspects from him.”
The report says, “Ricardo appeared to be hurt and had a limp in his right knee; however, he declined to have medical check him out.”
The report continues with the officer talking to Steamboat Resort Security Manager, Brett Mason.
“Brett had security camera footage of the event pulled up. The camera was far away from the event; however, it showed one passenger getting off the shuttle. Shortly after, you see Ricardo and the suspect go out of the shuttle and onto the ground directly outside of the doors. Ricardo appeared to be under the suspect; however, it is hard to tell due to the distance and angle of the camera. Following this, another passenger began to get involved in the scuffle, prior to more passengers getting off of the shuttle and coming to the aid of Ricardo.”
The report says the two suspects were seen on camera walking away from the shuttle. “Suspect one, was a tall, skinny, white male with black pants, a forest green snow jacket, and wearing a helmet with goggles. He was also carrying a pair of skis.” There was not a description of another suspect.
Also with the report was a supplement from SSPD Officer Cory Erickson, who responded to what was reported as 12 males fighting at the Gondola Transit Center. He says when he got there, “there was no fight in progress.”
Erickson wrote, “It was later discovered that one male had attacked a shuttle driver. I obtained a photo of the suspect from the ski area security. I canvassed the area and spoke with shuttle drivers. I was unable to located the suspect.”
Steamboat Springs Police Commander Rich Brown confirms today (Thursday, Feb. 12) that no one is in custody, and they do not have any suspects at this time.
From Maren Franciosi, Communications Director at Steamboat Resort. “I can confirm there was an assault on one of our shuttle drivers over the weekend and a police report was filed with the Steamboat Springs Police Department. We encourage anyone who may have information related to this incident to contact the SSPD directly.”
The phone number for Steamboat Springs Police is 970-879-1144. Refer to Incident P2601447.
Cover page of police report.
