A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Fort Collins’ former “DUI officer” will face a civil trial for allegedly investigating a motorist for impaired driving without any reasonable suspicion to do so.

In recent years, several people arrested by Officer Jason Haferman filed suit over their encounters, arguing Haferman wrongly accused motorists of driving under the influence when test results showed no presence of drugs. At one point, the district attorney for Larimer County stopped filing cases in which Haferman was a key witness due to his questionable investigations.

In a Sept. 10 order, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Y. Wang resolved some of plaintiff Carl Sever’s claims in favor of Haferman and Fort Collins itself. However, she concluded a jury could reasonably find that Haferman had no grounds to expand his initial traffic stop of Sever into an impaired driving investigation.

Other than an illegal left turn, “Officer Haferman does not claim to have observed any other traffic violations by Mr. Sever that justify a reasonable suspicion that Mr. Sever was driving under the influence — no lane drifting, speeding, sudden braking, near-misses with other cars on the road, or other erratic behavior,” Wang wrote. “Mr. Sever has adequately shown that the traffic stop was not justified at its inception by arguable reasonable suspicion that Mr. Sever was driving while impaired.”

On the night of July 23, 2021, Sever made a left turn that did not fully comply with Colorado’s traffic laws, then he drove slightly below the speed limit for several blocks. Haferman, who was driving nearby, pulled Sever over.

At some point, Haferman ordered Sever out of the car. He asked about Sever’s medications and disabilities and made Sever perform standardized field sobriety tests. Sever, who was 74 at the time, had difficulty completing some maneuvers. Sever also took a portable breathalyzer test, where he registered a nonzero blood alcohol content that was still well below the legal limit.

Haferman then arrested Sever for “drugs.” Later, the prosecution dismissed the criminal case.

In 2022, KDVR reported Haferman had made roughly one dozen drunk driving arrests in which subsequent testing showed no drugs or alcohol. In one instance, a Larimer County judge acquitted an arrestee of Haferman’s by finding the officer’s testimony “lacks credibility” and was “contrary to the evidence.”

At the end of that year, facing a disciplinary hearing after an internal investigation, Haferman chose to resign. District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin also raised concerns that Haferman’s handling of DUI cases needed to “dramatically improve.”

“I communicated to (Fort Collins police) in August of 2022 that my office would no longer be prosecuting cases in which former Officer Haferman was an essential witness,” McLaughlin said upon Haferman’s departure.

Sever sued Haferman in 2023 for violating his rights under the state and federal constitutions. He also alleged the city’s failure to train and supervise Haferman and its “policy of valuing DUI arrest quantity” were behind Haferman’s actions.

Haferman moved to end the case in his favor without a trial, arguing he had reasonable suspicion to investigate Sever for DUI based on his “glassy eyes,” “faint odor” of alcohol, and “driving behavior.” Further, he had probable cause to arrest Sever for driving while ability impaired based on the roadside tests and Sever’s slight BAC level.

The city also argued that no “final decision maker” disregarded Haferman’s alleged constitutional violations, notwithstanding his direct supervisors’ concerns about his interactions with drivers.

Fort Collins “put the worst possible candidate in the worst possible position,” responded attorney Sarah Schielke for Sever. “And then it ‘left him to his own devices’ for that position’s full two-year term while being bombarded throughout with red flags indicating that he was conducting observably incompetent DUI investigations and regularly arresting innocent people without probable cause.”

In her order, Wang agreed with Haferman that he had probable cause to arrest Sever for driving while ability impaired, which only requires an officer to believe that a person is affected by drugs or alcohol “to the slightest degree.” Based on Sever’s minimal BAC reading and his difficulty in performing the roadside tests, Haferman did not violate his rights during the arrest.

However, she concluded that a jury should decide whether Haferman had reasonable suspicion to investigate Sever for impaired driving after seeing the improper turn followed by somewhat slow driving.

“Cautious driving of a few miles below the speed limit, while in the right lane, at night, with few cars around, with traffic lights every couple of blocks, and while there is a police car directly behind does not constitute reasonable suspicion of impaired driving,” Wang wrote. “And as to the turn itself, while the Court agrees that it is an infraction under Colorado law, completing a left turn from the left-most turning lane into the second lane of a multi-lane road is a common driving maneuver, one that is in fact lawful in numerous states.”

She added that the body-worn camera footage did not definitively corroborate Haferman’s claim of Sever’s “glassy eyes,” nor would it show any alleged alcohol smell. There was also conflicting evidence about whether Haferman accurately described Sever’s traffic infraction.

Finally, Wang agreed with Fort Collins that Sever failed to show how any city policymaker was responsible for Haferman’s alleged constitutional violation.

“The supervisory conduct Mr. Sever identifies as deficient is attributable entirely to sergeants and corporals,” she wrote, and not “the knowledge or deliberate choices of any official with policymaking authority in the City. Without such evidence, Mr. Sever cannot establish that the City had a policy of deficiently supervising Officer Haferman and consciously disregarded the risk that inadequate supervision was substantially certain to result in constitutional violations.”

The case is Sever v. City of Fort Collins et al.