Background: The Arapahoe County Courthouse in Colorado (KCNC/YouTube). Inset left: Daniel Ashby (Arapahoe County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: H. Michael Steinberg (H. Michael Steinberg).
A man in Colorado is accused of body-slamming the defense attorney representing the man who allegedly killed his nephew, causing spinal injuries.
Daniel Ashby, 36, has been charged with second-degree assault, Arapahoe County jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show. He is being held in the Arapahoe County Jail under $75,000 bond.
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On Monday, the defendant was at the Arapahoe County Courthouse to attend a court hearing involving the man suspected of crashing into his 12-year-old nephew, killing him. Ashby is said to have wanted to speak to the suspect, 19-year-old Christopher Ramirez-Rodriguez, but the man’s lawyer was in his way.
Before the hearing began, Ashby “aggressively approached [H. Michael] Steinberg trying to see the defendant Steinberg was representing,” according to an arrest document obtained by local CBS affiliate KCNC. The lawyer “told Ashby to go into the courthouse and pushed him back to create space as Ashby was in his face. Ashby then performed a ‘MMA style takedown’ on Steinberg causing him to become unconscious.”
The attack in the hallway of the courthouse reportedly caused Steinberg to suffer multiple spinal fractures. He was transported to an area hospital, and on Tuesday, he told the Denver-based TV station that he had a “shattered pelvis” and was “in serious pain” with a surgery scheduled for Thursday.
Ashby was arrested immediately after the incident.
Michael Ashby, Daniel Ashby’s older brother and the father of the 12-year-old victim, said his brother and their entire family have been attending court hearings for Ramirez-Rodriguez and they are “frustrated with this legal system.”
On July 19 at about 10 a.m., the boy was using a “marked crosswalk on an electric scooter when Ramirez-Rodriguez failed to stop for the crossing’s red light and struck the boy,” the Aurora Police Department said at the time. “The investigation determined the pedestrian had activated the red signal light that stops both east and westbound traffic when the crash happened.”
Witnesses cared for the boy until first responders arrived at the scene, and he was taken to a local hospital. However, he later died from his injuries.
Police said Ramirez-Rodriguez remained at the scene and “was cooperative with the investigation.” While they did not suspect he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they were “investigating distracted driving as a contributing factor to the crash.” He was charged with careless driving resulting in death.
After the alleged attack this week, the judge in the case reportedly scolded the families in attendance “about taking justice into their own hands.”
Law&Crime has reached out to the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office for more information about Monday’s incident.
Daniel Ashby is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.
