Detectives with the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office in Colorado are recommending assault charges be filed after body camera footage and surveillance video was made public showing the aftermath from a violent citizen's arrest in September 2022.
The incident involved a volunteer SWAT medic, Doug Cullison, and his son, Nate Cullison. Surveillance video from the citizen's arrest started floating around on the internet this April — it shows the father and son duo taking down the suspect — a homeless man, later identified as Alex Montoya.
At the time, Montoya was suspected of assaulting Doug's wife at a nearby school where she worked.
"My wife is a school teacher," Doug Cullison said to officers while being recorded on bodycam. "So my wife called me and is like, 'Hey this guy is right in front of the building and we told him to leave and he was throwing something and punching cars at the front of Parkview.' So she called me back about five minutes later and was like 'Hey, he just punched me.'"
Cullison said moments later, he got into his car and pulled up in front of the school and started looking for Montoya. After talking with a few school faculty members, he found Montoya a few blocks away.
"They took him to the ground and in the process of taking him to the ground, they said he landed on his face and got a swollen cheek and blood in his mouth," a police officer said to another officer who was next on scene. "He says it's from that. He works part-time at the sheriff's office. He's a medic over there."
When officers asked Cullison how Montoya got blood all over his face, he said "He [Montoya] was trying to resist it a little bit, and my son right here, he must have heard. He came right up and helped him put him to the ground."
First responders talked with Montoya who confirmed he was punched. When asked if he wanted medical personnel to evaluate him, he said "I don't know what I want in my life no more."
As officers searched Montoya, he claimed he didn't mean to hurt the teacher.
"It was an accident," Montoya said. "I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to, I swear."
Cullison told officers before they arrived on scene, he went through Montoya's backpack and pockets because he didn't know whether or not Montoya had a weapon on him.
More officers eventually arrived to check out the Cullisons and Montoya — that's when they realized Montoya's injuries were far worse than just a bloody face. Body camera footage notes a "bunch of lumps" on his head — first responders guessing he probably hit his head on the asphalt.
"Initially it wasn't bad," Cullison explained to officers. "Maybe wrestled him to the ground. But he started to resist as I was trying to take him down."
Now that investigators have reviewed the surveillance video that surfaced in April and the body camera footage from September, Pueblo police are recommending Doug and Nate Cullison be charged with third-degree assault for Montoya's beating.
Montoya faces a third-degree assault charge for punching Cullison's wife.