Drunken man repeatedly Tased by deputy in Aspen
The Aspen Times
A Pitkin County sheriff’s deputy shot a drunken, combative man three times with a stun gun Saturday night after the man became enraged and attacked another deputy, according to police reports.
The man’s girlfriend, who admitted to punching him in the face earlier in the night, also attacked a deputy and had to be physically taken to the ground and handcuffed, the reports state.
Reese Castiglioni, 29, and Valora Villaloz, 49, both of Aspen, had been drinking at the Food & Wine Classic beforehand and were each taken to the Pitkin County Jail after the brawl with deputies. Both were charged with DUI and resisting arrest. Castiglioni also was charged with felony assault on a police officer, while Villaloz also is facing charges of simple assault, domestic violence and assault on a police officer.
The situation began about 9:45 p.m. Saturday, when emergency dispatchers received a call about a suspicious vehicle from a man parked at the Buttermilk Mountain parking lot, the reports state. The man said he saw a white Chevy Suburban, which was driving all over the road, turn off Highway 82 on to Owl Creek Road with its horn blaring.
The Suburban pulled off to the side of the road and the driver got out to try and fix the horn, according to the police reports. The man went over to help the driver, later identified as Castiglioni, and explained how to fix the horn problem, but Castiglioni “did not understand the simple instruction,” the reports state.
“The driver had blood dripping from his head,” the man later told deputies, according to the report. “The driver appeared to be ‘highly intoxicated’ and unsteady on his feet.”
Castiglioni managed to stop the horn from blaring, then got back in the Suburban and tried to drive away, but the truck wouldn’t start. Not long after, a white Land Rover picked up Castiglioni and drove away, the reports state.
A deputy ran the license plate, got Castiglioni’s address on Forge Road and found the Land Rover at the residence not long after. Castiglioni answered the door with dried blood on the side of his head and slurred speech but said he’d been sleeping, according to the reports.
Castiglioni soon became “agitated and uncooperative” and Deputy Ryan Voss called for backup. In the meantime, Villaloz told the deputy the couple had gotten into a fight at Food & Wine and that she “punched him in the face” because she was mad about him drinking and driving, according to the report.
“Villaloz said the injuries that Castiglioni had were from her,” the report states.
Villaloz admitted to picking up Castiglioni in the Land Rover and said, “she probably should not have been driving either,” according to the report.
Voss and Deputy Dustin Gray attempted to speak further with Castiglioni but he cursed at them and tried to go inside his home. Gray attempted to arrest Castiglioni at that time but he pulled away from the deputy, the report states.
“As this was happening, Villaloz jumped on Deputy Voss’ back and began yelling at him to let Castiglioni go,” according to Gray’s report. “The next several minutes were extremely chaotic.”
Gray grabbed Villaloz and pulled her off Voss, but she pulled away from him, so he took her down to the ground, according to his report. He was soon able to handcuff her and sit her down on the ground.
Meanwhile, Castiglioni lunged at Voss with a closed fist, and Voss attempted to take him to the ground. The two men landed in a rock-filled, three-foot deep ditch and began struggling with each other. Castiglioni elbowed Voss in the side of his head, while fighting and screaming obscenities at him as the deputy attempted to handcuff him, the reports state.
The two deputies could not control Castiglioni, so Gray shot him with the Taser in the shoulder, but the stun gun didn’t contact him for more than a second or two. He shot him again with the stun gun in his lower back, and Castiglioni stopped fighting, according to the reports.
The deputies finally got Castiglioni in handcuffs, though that was not the end of the saga. As tried to walk him out of the ditch, he leaned back and kicked Voss hard enough to knock him off balance, according to the reports. Deputies pushed him back to the ground, and Castiglioni continued to struggle and curse. Gray wrote in his report that he believed he wouldn’t stop until he injured a deputy.
So Gray shot him with the Taser again, which stopped Castiglioni from further fighting, the reports state.
