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Police protest sign prompts violent reaction in downtown Aspen

Staff report
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A South Carolina man verbally attacked a woman holding a “Defund the Police” sign on Main Street on Wednesday, then destroyed the sign and threw it into the street, according to a police report.

Jason Costlow, 35, of Charleston, allegedly approached a 57-year-old local woman holding the sign at the corner of Main and Aspen streets about 4 p.m., yelled at the woman and kicked his foot through the cardboard sign, according to the woman’s statement included in the report.

“He (kept) insulting me, cussing and using racially based verbal assaults at me … like white privilege, you don’t even have any black friends … you entitled white woman, f you … blue lives matter,” the woman wrote in the statement. “He ripped my sign from my hands and battered it again, then threw it into traffic, which had just gotten a green light.



“He seemed to have anger management issues and was ready to fight me over a sign.”

The incident occurred in front of an Aspen Police community resource officer, who radioed emergency dispatchers and described Costlow as “a larger man” wearing a T-shirt and jeans who was yelling at the woman, according to the Aspen Police report.




Two police officers later contacted Costlow and issued him an Aspen Municipal Court summons charging him with disorderly conduct/disturbing the peace and injuring public/private property.

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