In perhaps the strangest livestream held on her channel in quite some time, Regan Benson had an extended positive interaction with a Colorado State Trooper in Denver’s Memorial Park as the Trooper sought her help in contributing to a list of resources that he claimed a number of troopers were helping him compile.
Benson started the livestream by focusing on her current campaign to discredit the Regional Transportation District (RTD) police in an extension of her hostility towards RTD commander Brian Cousineau.
She explained that she had been at a RTD bus stop outside of Denver’s Civic Center for a half an hour before she started streaming. RTD police officers were wrapping up a fare check on an incoming bus, where passengers must present valid tickets, passes or validated MyRide cards when requested or face fines or citations.
One person was in custody and Benson was upset that an Allied Security guard, who was helping the RTD officers, was wearing a face mask that she said was in violation of Denver’s recently passed ban of any police officer concealing their identities using a mask.
Surprisingly, Benson sought help from an RTD officer who answered her questions, gave her his card, and helpful when she had questions about RTD property. Answering her questions, the officer got out of his car and walked with Benson, taking time to show her where what RTD had control over in the area of the Civic Center and directing her to its downtown headquarters.
Following the interaction, Benson seemed confused and walked over to Memorial Park, where she had previous negative interactions with Colorado State Troopers who patrol the park.
Benson was not prepared for what she encountered when she approached the vehicle driven by a trooper she identified as “Sergeant Lewis.” The sergeant was parked on a concrete area of the park and not in the grass, which Benson had filed previous complaints about, and got out of the vehicle and immediately approached Benson.
The sergeant and Benson walked together as he conducted a foot patrol of the area, double checking patrons of the park for signs of distress and offering help where he could. He then surprised Benson by asking her if she would help contribute to a list of resources for the unhoused that he and other troopers were compiling.
He claimed to be new to the area and wasn’t aware of all of the resources that were available to the unhoused in the downtown Denver area. While Benson explained that she normally didn’t do homeless outreach in the downtown area, she asked to see his list and was pleasantly surprised at the length of the list the officer had compiled.
The officer stated that he was doing his best to help with the list and that many of his coworkers were helping him compile the list of resources. Benson reviewed the list, making comments as to the quality of some of the resources that the officer had on the list, and asked for his card and pledged that she would e-mail him more resources to add.
She then offered to bring the officer water and homeless outreach bags to help with his on-hand supplies and the pair had a cordial, if not friendly, exchange that seemed to catch the free-range grandmother off guard.
Despite pausing to list all of her previous negative interactions and grievances with the Sergeant once she left the park, Benson seemed to be impressed with the officer’s attempt to interact and tap into her knowledge of resources in the area.
She ended the livestream on a rare positive note, promising that she would stay true to her pledge and attempt to bring water and outreach bags to the state patrol officers working the park the next time she was in the area.
This is a developing news story.
