A military veteran who says he was attempting to help after witnessing a vehicle crash in Fort Collins has received a $500,000 settlement following an arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence despite a clean blood test. The veteran, Jesse Cunningham, was traveling with his family nearly five years ago when the incident occurred, and his legal team says the episode set off a series of traumatic events for him and his daughters.
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Cunningham’s account and court filings say that on the night in question he stopped after seeing a crash while on a trip with his family. Authorities later arrested him on suspicion of DUI, but Cunningham was not given a breathalyzer test at the scene, according to the reporting of the case. Prior to the arrest he told an officer he had consumed two beers hours earlier and volunteered to undergo field sobriety testing.
The arresting officer in the incident is identified as Officer Jason Haferman. In Haferman’s report, the field sobriety tests Cunningham offered to perform were described as not having been completed as a sober person. That characterization, however, stood in contrast to Cunningham’s subsequent blood test results, which showed no alcohol. Those test results ultimately played a role in the dismissal of charges in this and several related cases, legal representatives said.
Cunningham pursued legal action over the arrest, and his lawsuit was recently resolved with a $500,000 settlement. As part of that agreement, Cunningham is barred from making disparaging statements about the police department involved, a restriction his attorney noted in public comments. Cunningham described the experience as traumatic and said it had a lasting impact on his family: "It was just traumatic experience one after another and it had a profound effect on my girls, my daughters," he said.
Sarah Schielke, Cunningham’s attorney, said she represents four other individuals who were arrested by the same officer under circumstances she described as similar. She noted that in all five cases, charges were ultimately dismissed after evidence from either breathalyzer tests or blood tests undermined the allegations of impairment. "It was jawdropping at every step of the way," Schielke said, speaking about the sequence of events and the outcomes in the cases she is handling.
Schielke also used the settlement as a platform to raise broader concerns about the law enforcement agency involved. While the settlement prevents her client from speaking negatively about the department, she stated she is not bound by that clause and expressed determination to continue pursuing change. "I think the number says a lot and it speaks really to the broader issues and problems at this department. It appears to be a cultural problem at this agency and I’m going to keep fighting until that’s fixed," Schielke said.
Legal documents and official statements from the department were not included in the reporting available, and the terms of the settlement beyond the dollar amount and the nondisparagement clause for Cunningham were not disclosed. What is public is the outcome for Cunningham: his civil case reached a financial settlement, and the criminal allegations tied to the blood test were dismissed. Schielke’s representation of multiple clients who faced similar arrests suggests these incidents prompted several parallel legal actions.
Photographs submitted with reporting on the case show Cunningham in community settings. A military veteran smiles with his dog at an outdoor event; he later received a $500,000 settlement after a DUI arrest despite a clean blood test. The settlement resolves Cunningham’s lawsuit, but his attorney has signaled ongoing efforts to address what she describes as systemic concerns within the agency involved. The series of dismissals in the five cases noted by Schielke underscores how evidence from breath and blood testing ultimately affected outcomes in these matters.
Schielke described the payout as the largest on record for any U.S. city in a single wrongful DUI case, attributing it to incentives for such arrests and ignored red flags around the now-former officer. She has since filed a sixth similar lawsuit in three years, this one for a sober college student, and indicated more are coming.
CBS News reported the settlement story was published/updated on July 22, 2026, and included a statement from Fort Collins Police Chief Jeff Swoboda saying the city “chose to resolve this one…to avoid the continued expense and disruption of ongoing litigation” while noting the settlement is not an admission of liability. (cbsnews.com)
Body-camera video and records show Cunningham repeatedly asked for a roadside breath test that was not given because the arresting officer said Cunningham had a prescription for Adderall; Cunningham later submitted to a blood draw that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation reported contained no alcohol or drugs. (cbsnews.com)
Because Cunningham’s minor daughters were in the vehicle at the time, he was also arrested on suspicion of child abuse and the arrest triggered a Child Protective Services investigation and other collateral consequences — including periodic urinalysis while the criminal case was pending. (cbsnews.com)
Local reporting and the department’s internal review found that in less than a year the officer at the center of these suits was involved in nine DUI arrests where laboratory testing later showed no alcohol or drugs, and that Officer Jason Haferman resigned in December 2022 one day before the police chief planned to terminate him; state records show he is no longer certified as a Colorado peace officer. (denver7.com)