Brief by Central Staff
Law enforcement – July 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
It’s usually considered a good thing if a convention comes to town for a few days and fills up entire motels in the process.
But it’s not exactly a welcome development in Gunnison this summer — the convention that will take up the entire 58-room Comfort Inn is the “USA Run,” a gathering of Hell’s Angels on their way from California to the big annual biker bash in Sturgis, S.D.
They plan to be in town to hold business meetings July 24-29, and County Sheriff Rick Murdie anticipates that “We’re going to have 400-plus guys, 85 to 90% of them convicted felons, in a small location, and there’s bound to be problems.”
He said that if wives, girlfriends, prospects and wannabes are counted, then more than 1,500 bikers could be descending on a county that has less than 50 peace officers. So he’s looking for help from the feds and any nearby departments that can spare some help for a few days.
The last such gathering in Colorado was at Steamboat Springs in 1999, and one man was killed in one of the motels they took over during their stay. The Angels kept police out of the room until they could destroy evidence, Murdie said.
More recently, there was the biker war this spring in Laughlin, Nev., which left four people dead and many more injured.
At least one Gunnison motel has announced plans to close that week, along with several downtown businesses and a couple of art galleries.
But Dan McKenna, an owner of the Comfort Inn, said “I’m not freaked out about it. I don’t know what to expect. But they’re headed to Sturgis, and I can’t imagine they want to be left behind in Gunnison because they’re in jail.”