Man jailed after allegedly pushing child toward elk
Californian accused of hitting woman who protested action
John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News
Published June 20, 2006 at midnight
A California man has been jailed in Larimer County on charges that he shoved his 6-year-old granddaughter dangerously close to a herd of calving elk in Estes Park.
Harold Wellsted, 63, is also accused of hitting a 58-year-old Fort Collins woman who protested what he was doing and then knocking down her 82-year-old father, who had been using a walker, police said.
Wellsted, who was wanted on a child abuse warrant out of California, has also been charged with assaulting an Estes Park officer in the booking room of the jail, said Estes Park Police Commander Wes Kufeld.
The incident started on Friday at 10:57 a.m. when police received a report of a disturbance on a nine-hole golf course near the Estes Park Visitor's Bureau information center.
A herd of elk had gathered on the golf course and a crowd of camera- snapping spectators stood watching from behind a fence. A sign on the fence warns visitors against getting too close to the elk, Kufeld said Monday.
"This time of year, the elk are very unpredictable," he said.
Witnesses told police that a van pulled up and a woman, an older man and two young children got out. The family stepped over the fence and approached the elk, witnesses said.
"The grandfather . . . grabbed the 6-year-old child and pushed her toward the elk and told her to get up there so he could take a picture," Kufeld said.
One of the elk began rearing up and the child began to cry, Kufeld said. The witnesses began yelling at Wellsted. They said he approached one woman and hit her. Then he shoved her father to the ground, Kufeld said.
The family drove off, but witnesses had been taking photographs of the entire incident. Using those photographs, police were able to trace the family to Greeley, where police arrested Wellsted.
Kufeld said Wellsted faces two counts of child abuse as well as charges of third-degree assault and second-degree assault on a police officer.
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