A Colorado police officer accused of “actively road raging” during an off-duty incident on Interstate 25 is now facing criminal charges, a case that – according to a CBS Colorado investigation – has become a window into how small police departments hire, rehire, and sometimes take chances on officers who leave other agencies “under a cloud.”
The allegations center on Officer Jack Ross, who Colorado State Patrol says was off duty and driving a personal vehicle when his actions allegedly caused an uninvolved driver to swerve and roll over on I-25 last August, then leave the scene.
The reported crash is tied to Larimer County, and the charges listed in the report – reckless driving and failure to report an accident – are misdemeanors, but ones even the local chiefs interviewed acknowledge can carry heavier consequences when the person accused is a sworn officer.
What makes the situation more complicated, the CBS report explains, is that Ross is still working in law enforcement despite the pending case, and his career path reflects a pattern the investigation focuses on: officers resigning during internal affairs probes, then showing up at another department that’s struggling to hire.
The Road Rage Case And The Charges
CBS Colorado’s Brian Maass lays out what the state patrol alleges happened: Ross was “actively road raging” on I-25, and troopers believe his driving triggered a chain reaction that ended with another vehicle rolling over.
State troopers say Ross fled the scene, while Ross later told investigators he didn’t see a crash. The report notes a major contradiction investigators say they encountered – Ross’s wife allegedly told investigators she did see the crash and even mentioned it to him, and he responded that it wasn’t their fault.
Ross is now facing misdemeanor counts of reckless driving and failing to report an accident, and in the CBS reporting, Hudson Police Chief Scott Sedgwick doesn’t mince words when asked about the seriousness of a situation like that: he calls it “very serious,” especially given that it involves someone entrusted with enforcing traffic laws and public safety.
One detail that jumps out in the reporting is how Hudson learned about it. Sedgwick says Ross never disclosed the incident to the department, and the agency only found out after receiving a tip. In a profession built on credibility and disclosure – especially where policies require reporting certain contacts with law enforcement – Sedgwick says that lack of candor became a central issue.
Second Chances And The Hiring Squeeze
The broader CBS Colorado investigation doesn’t treat the Ross case as a one-off. Instead, Maass frames it inside a bigger trend: fewer applicants, more competition, and pressure on small departments that can’t offer big-city salaries, big-city action, or big-city benefits.
In the report, the recruiting pitch is described almost like marketing – “slick, fast-paced” videos designed to sell the job – because departments are now competing for a shrinking pool of candidates.
In small Colorado towns, the hiring squeeze is described as constant. Sedgwick, who runs a 12-officer department in Hudson, says the town isn’t going to land the candidate who wants to work a major metro agency, chase nonstop calls, or earn top-tier pay, so the hiring reality becomes “we have to go through the applicants that we get” and find the best fit.
That’s how the report introduces the phrase that hangs over the entire story: sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t.
This is where the “second chance” debate enters, and the report doesn’t pretend it’s simple. It shows chiefs defending their choices as nuanced, case-by-case decisions, while also acknowledging how quickly public trust can erode when residents see officers moving from department to department after serious allegations.
A Trail Of Resignations And Rehires
Ross’s job history, as CBS reports it, includes multiple stops – and multiple departures under investigation.
The report notes Ross left the Ault Police Department while under investigation in 2023, then later worked in Keenesburg, and eventually moved to Hudson when Hudson offered more money. After the alleged off-duty road rage crash, Sedgwick says Ross resigned from Hudson during the department’s internal review, and then, eight miles down the road, Ross ended up back in Keenesburg.
That short distance matters because it underlines the regional reality: departments are close enough that an officer can leave one agency and land at another without uprooting their life, while the community watches the same names reappear.
Keenesburg Police Chief Jim Jensen told CBS Colorado he rehired Ross because the department had an employment history with him and Jensen believed he knew what kind of officer Ross was and how he fit into the community.
When asked whether Ross was the best candidate Keenesburg could find, Jensen’s answer wasn’t a sweeping endorsement so much as a practical one: Ross was a viable candidate and a good fit for the town.
Then comes the moment that reveals the tension in Jensen’s position. Asked if he’d hire someone today with a similar pending criminal case – specifically a pending hit-and-run style allegation – Jensen tells CBS, “probably not,” which reads like an admission that the “second chance” philosophy can collide with hard lines when the circumstances change.
The report also notes Jensen was already deep in the hiring process and had made Ross a job offer before the Larimer County incident. That helps explain why a department might not immediately yank an offer – because small agencies often don’t have the luxury of restarting hiring every time something new emerges, even if the public expects a hard stop.
That may be the most uncomfortable theme in the story: the space between what a community wants policing to be, and what some small departments feel they can realistically staff.
Other Officers, Other “Blemishes,” Same Question
CBS doesn’t focus on Ross alone. The investigation lays out additional examples to show how the “second chance cop” phenomenon isn’t limited to one officer or one town.
In Hudson, the report highlights hiring decisions involving officers who resigned while under investigation elsewhere. One example included Hayden Anderson, who state records show resigned from Longmont while under internal investigation involving alleged excessive force, and Sedgwick says he disagreed with the findings but hired him anyway.
Another example was Vanessa Trujillo, whose prior department, Parker PD, documented allegations of dishonesty and repeated issues including extreme speeds on routine patrol and claims of sleeping on duty; prosecutors later issued a letter questioning her truthfulness, the report says, yet Sedgwick hired her anyway, explaining that Hudson’s review didn’t necessarily agree with all prior conclusions and that sometimes young officers get “swallowed up.”
The story doesn’t read like the chiefs are celebrating a weaker standard. It reads more like they’re describing a marketplace where they believe they can coach, supervise, and rebuild officers – because the alternative is leaving positions vacant.
Still, the report repeatedly circles back to the same unavoidable problem: policing is one of the few jobs where “we’ll take a chance and see how it goes” can end up affecting people’s liberty, safety, and trust in the entire system.
A Trust Problem That Doesn’t Stay Local
The CBS segment links the Colorado staffing issue to a wider national conversation about hiring and rehiring officers, including the idea of “second chance cops,” and how quickly controversies in one city can reignite scrutiny everywhere else.
The report shows chiefs acknowledging the risk. Jensen concedes that hiring officers with checkered pasts can undermine confidence in policing, even if he believes some officers truly learn from mistakes and thrive in a new environment.
Sedgwick also acknowledges the tension in a line that feels unusually candid for a police leader: sometimes it’s easier to keep the vacancy than fill it. That’s not a boast; it’s a warning about what happens when staffing pressures meet a job that requires extraordinary public confidence.
And in the Ross case, the credibility question becomes especially sharp because CBS notes there is also a letter on file with district attorneys questioning Ross’s credibility—something that matters in courtrooms, where an officer’s word can be the hinge on which a case turns.
Even when an alleged incident happens off duty, the report’s logic is that it doesn’t stay off duty, because police credibility isn’t a switch that flips on and off depending on the time of day.
Commentary That’s Hard To Ignore
There’s an uncomfortable truth in this reporting that both sides would probably agree on: hiring pressures are real, and so is the cost of getting it wrong.
If you’re a resident in a small town, it’s not irrational to want a fully staffed department, quick response times, and officers who know the local community. But it’s also not irrational to look at a resignation-under-investigation history, or a credibility letter, or a pending criminal case, and wonder why the gamble is being taken with your town’s badge.
At the same time, the report quietly exposes how the “just hire better people” solution breaks down when the applicant pool shrinks and the job gets harder to sell, especially when larger agencies can pay more and offer more opportunity. A small chief can talk about standards all day, but if the town can’t compete on pay and doesn’t get many applicants, that chief ends up making decisions in a tight box.
The danger is what happens when that box becomes the norm. When departments repeatedly hire for “viable candidate” rather than “best candidate,” the standard can slide in ways that are hard to reverse, and then every new controversy becomes gasoline on the trust fire.
What Comes Next
As of the CBS Colorado report, Ross has a court date coming up, and Keenesburg’s chief says he’s waiting to see the outcome before making decisions about Ross’s future.
Hudson’s chief, meanwhile, makes clear he would not hire Ross again, and he frames the core issue as untruthfulness – because whatever happened on I-25, the department says it only learned about it through a tip.
The bigger question the investigation leaves viewers with is not whether second chances should exist – most people believe in some form of redemption – but whether law enforcement is the right place to test redemption stories when the stakes include public safety, courtroom integrity, and the legitimacy of the badge itself.
In other words: small departments may feel forced to hire from a thinner pile, but the public still expects big-city standards from small-town budgets, and that mismatch doesn’t go away just because everyone agrees the hiring market is rough.
Ed spent his childhood in the backwoods of Maine, where harsh winters taught him the value of survival skills. With a background in bushcraft and off-grid living, Ed has honed his expertise in fire-making, hunting, and wild foraging. He writes from personal experience, sharing practical tips and hands-on techniques to thrive in any outdoor environment. Whether it’s primitive camping or full-scale survival, Ed’s advice is grounded in real-life challenges.
