A man and woman face charges including assault with a deadly weapon after a domestic dispute in Cortez on July 29 that resulted in a vehicle collision that left three children with injuries, according to police reports.
Dakota Rockwell, of Colorado, arrived about 4 p.m. at the Cortez Municipal Pool to meet Shamarie Harrison, of Utah, and pick up the couple’s daughter, according a report by Cortez Police Officer Reuben Liska. Harrison saw that there was a female in the car with Rockwell and became upset. Rockwell then drove west on Montezuma Avenue in a red Ford pickup truck, according to the police report, and Harrison followed him with her daughter and two of her sister’s children in a white sedan. She caught up and blocked Rockwell’s truck with her car, the report states.
Near the intersection of Coronado Street and North Broadway, Rockwell sideswiped the sedan, and Harrison got out of her car, approaching the truck, Liska wrote in the report. Harrison told Liska she tried to get into the pickup and yell at the female in the passenger seat, but her brother, Jehrad Whitehorse, of Utah, pulled Harrison out of the pickup. Rockwell drove off quickly, nearly hitting Whitehorse and running over Harrison’s right foot.
When asked why she followed Rockwell, Harrison told Liska she “wanted to get back at him” and “to hurt him like he hurt me,” according to the report.
The couple’s daughter sustained a large bruise on her forehead, and the two other children in the car also sustained injuries, according to Liska’s report. Liska observed two child-restraint seats in the car that were not secured with a lap belt or restraint system. The children were visibly scared and seemed to not know what was going on, he wrote.
Harrison told Liska she had drunk about six beers and some shots earlier in the day. At Montezuma County Jail, Harrison agreed to a breathalyzer test, which revealed her blood alcohol content to be above the legal limit.
A police officer later transported the children to their grandmother’s house, and the case will be reviewed by Montezuma County Social Services, the report states.
Harrison was booked at the jail on charges of driving under the influence, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, child abuse, domestic violence, second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, criminal attempt, failing to provide forward-facing child-restraint system and open alcoholic beverage container.
As of July 29, a warrant was being sought for Rockwell for reckless driving, second-degree assault with a deadly weapon, child abuse, domestic violence, reckless endangerment and driving a vehicle on a restricted license.
Whitehorse was served with a complaint for disturbing the peace, after officers interviewed witnesses who said he engaged in a physical altercation near the incident site. He told police he had drank four 40s and six Corona beers, and a breathalyzer test revealed his blood alcohol content was over the legal limit, according to the report.