LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — When State House Minority Leader Mike Lynch was pulled over on Interstate 25 on suspicion of driving under the influence, he asked for his arrest to be kept secret – and it was until more than a year later.
Lynch’s arrest for DUI, speeding and being in possession of a gun while drunk in 2022 was kept from the public until The Denver Post reported it Wednesday.
The dash camera and in-vehicle videos of Lynch's arrest were obtained Friday by 9NEWS through an open records request.
“I’m a state representative here, and if there’s anything we can do to, kind of, keep the press out of this, that’d be great,” Lynch said in the back of a patrol car in September 2022. “They’ll find out. They’ll find out. This will be a big deal.”
The same day news of his arrest got out, Lynch told 9NEWS that it was a personal matter and did not think there was a reason to tell the public about it, but that he was showing leadership by talking about what he wanted to be kept quiet.
“I was realistic that this would come out some day and I would face it, like I'm doing right now, and that's what leaders do,” Lynch said Wednesday.
> Video below: Dash camera video shows Colorado State House leader Mike Lynch arrest for DUI in 2022
In September 2022, Lynch was pulled over after speeding 90 mph in a 75 mph zone past a trooper on Interstate 25 in Larimer County.
Here is some of the exchange on video between Lynch and the trooper who pulled him over.
“I can’t understand why you passed me and then hit the gas and sped all the way up to 90 miles an hour?” the trooper says to Lynch in the video.
“Was I doing that?” Lynch asks in the video. “Yeah,” the trooper says.
“I’m sorry. This is a new car to me,” Lynch says on camera. He repeats the new car comment less than two minutes later.
“Uh-huh. OK. Gas pedal works the same, though, right?” the trooper asks Lynch.
When he asks to get out of the vehicle, the trooper notices a pocketknife on Lynch, then Lynch reaches for a gun he says he had in his pocket.
"I see you've got your pocketknife, there, I’m just going to grab that from you here. Don’t touch it for me,” the trooper says in the video.
"I've got a gun in this pocket, too,” Lynch says.
"You have a gun?” the trooper asks. “Yeah,” Lynch replies in the video.
“Don’t move. Stop. You're not going to do that, OK? We’re not going to reach for guns while talking to police,” the trooper says to Lynch. "Yes, sir,” Lynch says in the video.
In an interview on Wednesday, Lynch explained why he reached for his gun in the video. "I think it was an, 'Oh crap, I forgot, I've got a gun in my pocket.' And so, I was trying to be proactive with the officer,” Lynch said.
The exchange caught on video continues between Lynch and the state trooper.
“In the future, please, if I ask if you have any weapons, don’t reach for anything, OK?” the trooper says. “I’m sorry,” Lynch says in the video.
After the officer takes the weapons away from Lynch, he asks the trooper to call Mike Honn, the lobbyist from the Colorado State Patrol that works with state lawmakers.
“Can you call Mike Honn?” Lynch asks on video. “Who’s Mike Honn?” the trooper asks Lynch.
“Uh, never mind. No. No. Yes, sir. I’ll do whatever you want me to do,” Lynch says to the trooper. “Who’s Mike?” the trooper asks again.
“Mike is the captain of the state patrol that…” Lynch says. “OK,” the trooper says. “Why do you want me to call Mike?” he asks Lynch in the video.
“Nope. I don’t want you to call anybody. Nope, I did not say that,” Lynch says. “Well, you did,” the trooper says in the video.
“I take it you’re friends with Mike?” the trooper asks Lynch. “Yes, and I’m a state representative,” Lynch says.
When Lynch was in the back of the patrol car, he was told he was not going behind bars that night.
“To be very honest with you, normally, for DUIs, they go to jail. But I’m going to allow you to call somebody to come pick you up,” the trooper says.
According to a spokesman from CSP, there are three options troopers can consider for all DUIs:
- Jail
- Detox
- Release to a sober party
The spokesman said that the trooper was within policy to release Lynch to a sober policy.
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