Kiowa County has reached a $9.5 million settlement with the family of Zach Gifford, the unarmed local handyman shot three times in the back by its undersheriff and a rookie deputy in 2020. The amount exceeds the county’s $7.5 million annual budget, but is less than the $10 million maximum its insurance policy would cover. […]
Zach Gifford
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Fatal shooting lawsuit alleges culture of excessive force in Kiowa County
By Susan Greene, Colorado News Collaborative Kiowa County Sheriff’s Department’s pattern of condoning illegal searches and tolerating excessive force led to last year’s killing of a handyman by the local undersheriff and a rookie deputy, a federal civil rights lawsuit alleges. The complaint, filed Wednesday on behalf of the late Zach Gifford’s family, comes as […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Kiowa County deputy accused of killing unarmed man had history of using deadly force
An Eastern Plains deputy had twice used deadly force under questionable circumstances in the months before his involvement in the killing of an unarmed man during a routine traffic stop last year, public records show. Documents obtained by the Colorado News Collaborative also reveal that the same former Kiowa County sheriff’s deputy, Quinten Stump, had […]
Posted inColoradans, Crime and Courts, News
How a rural Colorado traffic stop left a man dead and a sheriff’s deputy facing criminal charges
KIOWA COUNTY – Nearly a year has passed since a traffic stop ended with Undersheriff Tracy Weisenhorn and Deputy Quinten Stump shooting Zach Gifford, the unarmed passenger, in a nearby field, three bullets in his back. In the 11 months since the 39-year-old handyman’s death in Brandon on April 9, 2020, a state criminal investigation has concluded, […]