Michael Francisco first learned of Carbondale from a feature in Outside Magazine promoting the small mountain town as one of the greatest places to live. Having previously resided in the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Denver, he looked forward to a move to a quiet and progressive community. Eventually, however, his preconceived notions were rattled.
On Christmas Eve 2020, Francisco was forcibly taken down by police inside the Carbondale City Market while he was at self-checkout buying groceries. This occurred as the result of an accusation by a City Market employee that Francisco had pointed toward them in an unfavorable manner. He was handcuffed, put in the back of a cop car and later released with a summons to appear in court. For the details of the incident, visit www.soprissun.com/local-arrest-stirs-controversy
The subsequent municipal criminal court case dragged on for five months despite public outcry to “drop the charges and apologize to Michael Francsico.” Ultimately, that is what happened, but at a cost the Town eventually would have to pay for in the sum of $350,000.
“This had to happen to me,” Francisco told The Sopris Sun. “When it happened, the support of the community came out, and it was what it was supposed to be.”
Francisco, a Black man from Belize who’s lived in Carbondale for more than a decade now, touched on the fact that the situation that unfolded is not unique to Carbondale — systemic racism continues to take its toll across the country. Having lived in South Central Los Angeles, he was already trained to be cautious of police because of the color of his skin.
“I don’t think any caucasian — any individual that’s not wearing a ‘black tuxedo’ — feels this, unless they have committed something, right? But I haven’t committed anything at all,” he stated. “All of the descendants of ‘black tuxedos’ in the States go through this psychosis.”
Francisco said that Carbondale Police Chief Kirk Wilson has consistently been cordial with him since the incident. “Resentment doesn’t exist in me,” he stated. Francisco just hopes that the Carbondale Police Department (CPD) will approach situations prepared not solely to make an arrest, but to adjust their “frequency” and have the “compassion to listen.” He added, “I understand that they’re scared when they approach someone because they don’t know what the other person is capable of, but they know what they are capable of.”
Francisco thinks of everyone involved having played a part in what ultimately resulted in a solution. “It had to rear its head in order for us, as a community, to take care of it,” he said.
Mediation and outcome
Michael Fairhurst is the founding partner of KillmerLane, LLP’s Western Slope civil rights law office based in Carbondale. Initially, in December 2022, Fairhurst filed Francisco’s race discrimination lawsuit in federal court with City Market and its affiliates listed as the defendants. At that time, the Town and Franscisco’s representatives were working toward an out-of-court settlement. However, around the same time that City Market settled the case and was removed as a defendant, the Town was added as a defendant due to settlement negotiations being unsuccessful by that time.
Fairhurst could not give details about the settlement with City Market, noting that it’s typical that settlements with private entities are confidential. Because the Town of Carbondale is a public entity, those details must be publicly accessible.
When the case first came to their office, “We thought, ‘Wow, that strikes us as an incident that is highly unlikely to have occurred to a white shopper who is simply going about their business and lawfully purchasing groceries on Christmas Eve,” recalled Fairhurst.
The case against Carbondale ended up being resolved through a series of mediations which Leland Anderson, a retired state court judge, facilitated.
Fairhurst noted that the commendable efforts CPD has made in the wake of the situation were not part of the settlement, but made of the Town and CPD’s own volitions.
“I think it’s important for the public to hear that … the events underlying Michael Francisco’s case caused CPD to make some significant reforms in an effort to avoid a similar unfortunate event again,” Fairhurst acknowledged.
More often than not in his line of work, Fairhurst sees police departments that “don’t seem to learn from their mistakes.” He concluded, “To the credit of CPD … they seem to have undertaken real and in-good-faith efforts.”
Town breaks its silence
While the Town of Carbondale’s two cents are covered under the final subhead of this article, it was the first to release a statement following the settlement.
“We apologize to Mr. Francisco for allowing the situation to escalate as it did,” the statement, cosigned by Mayor Ben Bohmfalk, Town Manager Lauren Gister and Police Chief Kirk Wilson, began. “While Carbondale police were responding to City Market’s request to remove Mr. Francisco from the store, we acknowledge that the situation could have been handled differently for a better and more respectful result.”
The Town officials expressed regret for so much time having passed before resolving the issue. “It has been challenging for our Town staff and board to avoid providing information to the community while litigation was pending,” the statement continued.
According to Gister, the $350,000 settlement was completely covered by the Town’s insurance provider, from which it also retained legal counsel for the civil rights case. At the time, she could not speak to whether the insurance payout would affect the Town’s premium cost.
The Town conducted a review of its police policy, procedures and staff training which resulted in some significant changes. “The department instituted improvements to trespass procedures, police body camera functions and diversity hiring in the police department,” the press release detailed. CPD, then trustees and staff took part in a seven-week “Equity Action Project” training in 2022 and all CPD officers attended a five-week conflict resolution training in 2023. CPD also adopted the recommendations of President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
“There have been many lessons learned during this difficult process, and our Town and police department are better for it,” the statement concluded, adding that the Board of Trustees has “full confidence” in Wilson and his department as well as their full support.
“We’re glad this matter has been resolved in a way that acknowledges the progress this department has made over the past several years,” Wilson told The Sopris Sun in a separate statement.
“It took two outsiders, the Chief and [me] … to bring Carbondale to its roots,” concluded Francisco, noting that Wilson was new to the position at the time of the incident. “I want to thank the community for their love. Carbondale is good.”
To view the Town’s statement along with links to the settlement and CPD policy changes, visit www.tinyurl.com/TownSpeaks