{"id":39570,"date":"2022-07-08T22:13:15","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T04:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sheriffs-office-a-dog-attack-shots-fired-and-assault-highlight-problems-at-purple-cliffs\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:50:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:50:37","slug":"sheriffs-office-a-dog-attack-shots-fired-and-assault-highlight-problems-at-purple-cliffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/sheriffs-office-a-dog-attack-shots-fired-and-assault-highlight-problems-at-purple-cliffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheriff\u2019s Office: A dog attack, shots fired and assault highlight problems at Purple Cliffs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"La
La Plata County government is taking over finding a new permanent camp for people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. The current site, Purple Cliffs, has more than 80 camps. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Law enforcement has long said homeless camping at Purple Cliffs south of Durango presents a danger on several levels, including the heightened potential for wildfires and the lawless nature associated with an unmanaged campground.<\/p>\n

In highlighting the latter point, La Plata County Sheriff Sean Smith recounted an incident last month involving a dog attack, shots fired and an assault.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. June 2 when Sheriff\u2019s Office deputies were busy on other calls and requested the Durango Police Department for assistance.<\/p>\n

According to a police report, two officers responded to a 911 call reporting three to four gunshots fired at the campground. When officers arrived, they found multiple people standing on La Posta Road (County Road 213) who appeared to be in an argument.<\/p>\n

Officers observed one man walking away, while other residents indicated he was the one \u201ccausing problems.\u201d The residents said they didn\u2019t want him at the camp any longer, according to a police report.<\/p>\n

\"Purple
Purple Cliffs south of Durango on La Posta Road (County Road 213) in early June had more than 100 residents living at the campsite. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Officers observed blood on the man\u2019s face. According to the man, a \u201cmedium-sized black dog\u201d attacked him, biting him in the leg, which provoked him to kick the dog in self-defense, according to the police report. After the man kicked the dog, several other residents allegedly attacked him, throwing rocks at him and \u201csprayed him with an unknown chemical which was a white powder,\u201d which officers observed on his clothing.<\/p>\n

A white fire extinguisher with a \u201cred substance smeared over it\u201d was later found by officers at the campsite.<\/p>\n

Other residents told officers the man who fired the shots had a firearm in his backpack, which prompted officers to detain him and search him.<\/p>\n

Officers did not find a gun, and the man denied having a gun. But officers did find a box of 9 mm handgun ammunition containing \u201capproximately 30 rounds with 20 empty spaces,\u201d according to the police report. Officers also found empty shell cases where the gun had allegedly been fired.<\/p>\n

The man initially refused treatment for his injuries, but after paramedics performed an exam he was taken by ambulance to Mercy Hospital to be treated for a \u201cswollen\u201d and \u201cbloody mouth\u201d and \u201capproximately a two inch gash to his left temple and a possible dog bite to his right calf.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man has not been charged with a crime.<\/p>\n

Chris Burke, spokesman for the Sheriff\u2019s Office, said residents at the camp declined to press charges against the man. They said, \u201cHe got what he deserved,\u201d according to Burke. And no charges were pursued by the police department or the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

At a joint meeting with the Durango City Council and La Plata County commissioners, Smith said the incident is an example of the urgency he and his deputies face in removing the unmanaged camp.<\/p>\n

Smith said he received a letter from a resident at the Escalante tiny homes village inquiring why the Sheriff\u2019s Office took 40 minutes to respond to the incident. Smith said Durango police officers responded to the 911 call within 14 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that time, I had five staff in 1,700 square miles,\u201d he said. \u201cTwo of them were tied up on a motorcycle-versus-car accident out at Tremble Crossing. One was tied up with a suspicious death of a gentleman being brought in by his friends out in Ignacio with Southern Ute PD (Police Department).\u201d<\/p>\n

Another sheriff\u2019s deputy was responding to a 911 call in the Bayfield area. The fifth sheriff\u2019s deputy was occupied with a fentanyl drug trafficking stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have the people,\u201d Smith said \u201cWithin two minutes we said can the PD (Durango police) please help us? And they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said the unmanaged camp at Purple Cliffs where dozens of homeless people are living in tents and makeshift structures is untenable. He said at least nine children were living at the campsite as of late June.<\/p>\n

He said he gave the fire extinguisher to residents in case of fire, but it was used to assault the camper who fired gunshots to scare away a dog that had attacked the man.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Durango Police Department helps respond to 911 call involving gunfire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39571,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,950,1065,28,611,475,1680,1194,1310],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-39570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-durango","tag-durango-police-department","tag-headlines","tag-homelessness","tag-la-plata-county-colorado","tag-la-plata-county-commissioners","tag-la-plata-county-sheriffs-office","tag-safety-of-citizens"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84370,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39570\/revisions\/84370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39570"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=39570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}