A Denver Police Department officer accused of participating in a drunken brawl with his wife and another Denver cop and his wife has been cleared of charges.
The 18th District Attorney’s Office on Monday dropped all charges against Jeremy Ownbey during a hearing at the Arapahoe County Courthouse.
Ownbey had been charged with second-degree trespassing, two counts of child abuse and driving under the influence after a June brawl at the home of Denver police detective Steven Sloan.
Sean Olson, Ownbey’s defense attorney, declined to comment about the dropped charges.
Sloan and Ownbey were friends, and the officers and their wives had gathered for a cookout that turned ugly amid accusations of heavy drinking and allegations of swinging, according to previous Aurora Police Department reports.
Jamie Ownbey, who is married to Jeremy Ownbey, was accused of becoming increasingly drunk and obnoxious, according to police reports.
The Sloans had asked the Ownbeys to leave, but the two couples got into a fight, kicking and punching each other, as the Ownbeys were leaving. Sloan pulled a gun, which ended the fight, according to police reports.
Jeremy Ownbey originally was charged with second-degree trespassing for not leaving the Sloans’ house and two-counts of child abuse after Aurora police found the Ownbeys’ children home alone after the fight was reported.
A DUI charge later was added by the 18th District Attorney’s Office because Ownbey had told police he had been drinking after he had driven away from the Sloans’ house and then returned.
Aurora officers never conducted a DUI investigation, the 18th District Attorney’s office said in an e-mailed statement.
Further, an expert witness from Aurora police provided a statement that said Ownbey had “displayed few signs of alcohol impairment” and a forensic toxicologist had written an opinion letter saying Ownbey’s blood-alcohol content would not have risen to the level of legal impairment, the DA’s statement said.
The child abuse charges came when police found two minor children alone at the Ownbeys’ house after driving Jeremy Ownbey home. But a 17-year-old wrote a letter saying the children were under his supervision the entire night, the DA’s statement said.
The DA’s statement said prosecutors did not believe they would have been successful in proving the trespassing charge during a trial.
Ownbey has been on desk duty since the fight. The police department has said it would conduct an internal affairs investigation into both officers’ actions.
Denver police did not respond to a phone call or an e-mailed request for comment.
Jaime Ownbey has been charged with third-degree assault and two counts of child abuse. A pre-trial readiness conference in her case is scheduled for Feb. 18, according to the DA’s office.
The incident was one of several involving Denver police officers and alcohol during the first half of 2014, leading Chief Robert White to order a review of how the department handles reports of alcohol abuse among officers.
As a result, the department added a resiliency program to help officers who are struggling with substance abuse.
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Noelle_Phillips
