A federal judge has rejected a former Garfield County sheriff candidate’s claims of discrimination against Colorado Mountain College, where he was reportedly trying to begin a new career in law enforcement.

Paramroop Khalsa filed suit this summer and alleged a violation of Title VI, the civil rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in federally-funded programs. He sought $480,000 in damages from the community college and individual employee defendants.

On Nov. 17, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty agreed to dismiss the lawsuit, finding that, even if Khalsa had put forward a plausible Title VI claim, he filed his lawsuit beyond the legal window for doing so.

Khalsa was a write-in candidate for Garfield County sheriff in 2018, receiving 792 votes – 4.7% of the total – against longtime incumbent Lou Vallario. Khalsa told The Post Independent at the time that his own “brutal” arrest by sheriff’s personnel prompted his candidacy. (The paper later noted credibility issues with a witness precluded any felony charge for Khalsa.)

Representing himself in federal court, Khalsa, who is a yoga instructor, described wanting to pursue a career in policing after losing the 2018 election. He enrolled at Colorado Mountain College the following year with the goal of passing the officer training program.

Khalsa, who is Sikh and wears a turban with an uncut beard, alleged his firearms instructor initially told him, “We don’t get your kind here.” The instructor also said, “Khalsa, you scare me.”

According to Khalsa’s lawsuit, he was “escorted off the gun range” and removed from the firearms class in September 2019. The school offered him a refund if he quit the course, but Khalsa declined.

Khalsa complained to an administrator about discrimination, but on Oct. 21, 2019, Associate Dean Lisa Runck reportedly notified him that there was no wrongdoing in the training program. Khalsa continued to write to the college in 2020 asking to participate in the firearms class again, but received no answer.

Around August 2021, the school reportedly issued Khalsa an associate degree in criminal justice, even though he had not completed the firearms class requirements.

“This experience has caused enormous stress and personal depression over wanting nothing more than to become a policeman,” Khalsa wrote. “I really wanted to move into consulting and teaching meditation to police personal (sic). Without this certification I have no chance of doing anything related to police.”

Estimating that he would have worked for 10 years in law enforcement, Khalsa asked for $480,000 for his discrimination claim.

Colorado Mountain College and four employee defendants moved to dismiss the lawsuit for multiple reasons. First, Khalsa had sued “Colorado Mountain College, Police Academy,” which, as the defendants noted, is not an actual entity. Second, Title VI does not enable a person to sue individual defendants. 

Further, Khalsa had brought a discrimination claim without any mention of how he was discriminated against.

“Plaintiff does not identify his race, color, or national origin, let alone tie his unknown race to discrimination by any of the defendants,” the Colorado Attorney General’s Office wrote. “Plaintiff also fails to outline a connection between his race, color, or national origin and any alleged discriminatory conduct on the part of the Defendants.”

Although Khalsa clarified that his complaint was based on “religious freedom” discrimination, Hegarty agreed with the college that the lawsuit was a non-starter. Khalsa had two years to file suit after being discriminated against. With the alleged discrimination occurring in the fall of 2019, Runck’s October 2019 message that found no wrongdoing would have started the clock on Khalsa’s window to initiate legal action.

“Yet, the complaint was filed eight months after the end of the limitations period on June 29, 2022,” the magistrate judge wrote.

Hegarty added that Khalsa could have potentially pursued a viable claim: by assuming the instructor’s comments amounted to discrimination; the behavior was related to Khalsa’s race, color or national origin; Colorado Mountain College received federal funding; and Khalsa’s inability to complete the firearms course was a form of injury.

With those assumptions, “the court finds that plaintiff’s claim is plausible,” Hegarty wrote, but “the statute of limitations bars it.”

The case is Khalsa v. Colorado Mountain College, Police Academy et al.