THORNTON, Colo. — When Thornton police responded to a disturbance between a man and two women at a Walmart on July 18, the man wanted to make sure officers knew something.
"I'm off-duty Adams County, by the way," Ezekiel Spotts told officers in body camera footage obtained by 9NEWS.
Spotts currently works at the Adams County jail, and has worked for the sheriff's office for 17 years.
The incident happened while Spotts and his girlfriend were leaving the store. Surveillance video shows two women walk by, with words exchanged. One of the women and Spotts came face-to-face. He pushed her, she punched him, and he punched her.
Spotts and the women continued to talk as they headed toward their cars. A second altercation occurred, but none of Walmart's cameras captured it.
When police arrived, the women weren't there, because they took themselves to the hospital.
Spotts gave officers his side of the story. He said he also suffered injuries, and you can see a scratch on his neck.
"Pushed her out of my way. That's when she started smacking me and scratching me. Pushed her again further away," Spotts said, failing to say he punched the woman.
After Spotts told an officer he works for the sheriff's office, the officer made a phone call to someone from inside his patrol car.
"One half is apparently an Adams County deputy," the officer says.
"OK," the person on the other end replies.
"So, not sure exactly where this is going to go," the officer says.
The person on the other end of the line asks to be updated, and says, "We probably should have a conversation between the Chief and the Sheriff, is typically how that happens."
Linda Hurley and her daughter Erica Smith were the two women involved. Hurley spoke to 9NEWS the day after, showing her injuries.
The surveillance video does not have audio, but Hurley also knew Spotts was law enforcement. Why? She said Spotts told them, too.
"All the time he's saying he's a cop, that he has the right to do what he wants, it's a free country," Hurley said.
On Aug. 22, the DA declined to prosecute, citing the lack of video of the second fight, and saying he could not determine who was the initial aggressor.
"This is a big mishandling of justice," Hurley told 9NEWS.
Spotts told officers the second fight happened after he went to take pictures of their license plate.
"Got in my face again, smacked my phone, smacked me, and I think that was primarily mom at that point, and that's from mom, this is probably from mom, after that, I let her have it," Spotts said in the video.
"He broke my nose and hit me upside the head several times," Hurley told 9NEWS in August.
"He strangled me as well as messed up my ankle," Smith said to 9NEWS.
When officers first arrived to Walmart, they had not seen the surveillance video. After later talking to the women and seeing the video, officers brought Spotts to a Thornton Police substation.
"It appears as though she knows that you're a police officer, so we're just trying to err on the side of caution and make sure all of our t's are crossed and i's are dotted," the officer tells Spotts.
They booked him, released him, and continued to investigate. In late August, the DA declined to bring a case, but chose to criticize all parties, but pointedly Spotts.
RELATED: Newly-released video shows off-duty deputy fighting with woman; prosecutors decline to file charges
"I find the conduct of the parties regrettable. In particular, an off-duty law enforcement officer, while certainly retaining the right to defend himself, should nevertheless also have the judgement and reflection to step back from a volatile situation before it escalates unnecessarily. Regrettably, that judgement and reflection was not exhibited here," Brian S. Mason wrote.
A spokesperson for the Adams County Sheriff's Office said they're investigating Spotts' conduct, and that investigation remains ongoing.
Spotts was with his girlfriend during the incident. She is also an Adams County deputy, working in the jail. A spokesperson said she was interviewed during their investigation, as a witness, but she is not being investigated.
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