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Denver Cop Accused In Alcohol-Fueled Fight Is Cleared

ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - A lack of evidence in wild, drunken fight between two Denver police officers and their wives prompted prosecutors to drop charges against one of them on Monday.

The 18th District Attorney's Office said Jeremy Ownbey was cleared after prosecutors determined they didn't have enough evidence to secure a guilty verdict.

He was charged with trespassing, a DUI and two counts of child abuse stemming from a May 19 incident at the home of officer Steve Sloan.

According to a police report, the alcohol-fueled get-together disintegrated into a brawl that included both wives punching each other, both cops punching each other and Ownbey punching Sloan's wife. Sloan then pulled his gun on Ownbey and ordered him to leave. He refused, which resulted in the trespassing charge.

Ownbey also told investigators that they discussed swinging and wife-swapping between the couples, but it's unclear how that precipitated the fight.

"Quite a party," Frank Fania, an Aurora police spokesman whose agency investigated the fight, said at the time.

Because the case involved Denver cops, Aurora police investigated the fight and recommended the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office file charges against Ownbey and his wife, Jamie.

RELATED: DPD Cop-On-Cop Violence May Lead To Charges

Sloan and his wife, Stephanie, were not charged. Jamie Ownbey is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing in February.

A spokeswoman for the DA's office said Monday that prosecutors didn't have enough information to prove trespassing against Ownbey. The child abuse charges resulted from leaving their children home alone, but a 17-year-old wrote a letter that said the children were under his care the night of the fight. The DA's office said it didn't have enough evidence to prove Ownbey drove drunk. No DUI investigation was conducted on the scene.

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