A US Bureau of Land Management officer has been charged with second degree murder after a drunken brawl at a Wyoming bar last week left a man dead.
Lander Police did not name the man charged with with second degree murder — two other men were charged with being an accessory before the murder — or the victim who died in the January 9 fight.
Cowboy State Daily, however, identified the killer as Richard “Deak” Dollard and the victim as Evan Denevan. The other two men arrested were Dollard’s brother, 54-year-old Justin Dollard, and his nephew, 21-year-old Jesse Dollard.
The brawl took place at the Maverick Restaurant Lounge, documents obtained by WyoFile said. Those documents say that surveillance footage showed that an upset Jesse Dollard pointing to Denevan just before his relatives launched an attack on him.
Justin Dollard claimed that Denevan yelled he would “kick your a**” and took off his hat and glasses to flight. He claimed Denevan hit him first and that at one point his brother “pulled Denevan back to deescalate the situation.”
Jesse Dollard told police that his father — Justin Dollard — “gets hot headed” and “went after it” and that Richad Dollard broke up the fight because he is “trained in deescalation.”
But the surveillance video showed around eight to 10 people fighting when Richard Dollard’s version of deescalation — putting Denevan in a “rear naked chokehold” began. Dollard held Denevan in the chokehold for about 30 second before letting him fall to the floor limp. Justin Dollard kicked him after he fell to the floor.
The person who called 911 reported that Denevan was not breathing and was “all purple.” Witnesses attempted to revive him until police arrived and took over, but none were able to resuscitate the victim.
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[Featured image: Richard “Deak” Dollard/Lander Police Department]