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Left: Patrick Egan (Mesa County Sheriff’s Office). Right: President-elect Donald Trump arrives to speak at a meeting of the House GOP conference, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
A state judge in Colorado has refused to lower the bond amount for a Marine veteran charged with attacking a television reporter while demanding to know whether he was “even a U.S. citizen” and telling him, “This is Trump’s America now.”
Patrick Egan is charged with one count each of second-degree assault with intent to cause bodily injury by strangulation, felony committing a bias-motivated crime, and misdemeanor harassment by ethnic intimidation for assailing KKCO News reporter Ja’Ronn Alex, who is of Pacific Islander descent.
Thursday’s hearing
Judge Jennilynn Lawrence of the 21st Judicial District not only declined to lower the $20,000 bond for Egan on Thursday — she also told him she was actually inclined to raise the amount, citing to the egregiousness of his alleged crime, Courthouse News reported.
“I was fully prepared to increase your bond today,” Lawrence reportedly told Egan during the hearing at the Mesa County Justice Center. “Certainly, I think when you are in your right mind, you would know these are not the types of behaviors we would expect of Marines, and similarly they are not the types of behaviors we can have in the community.”
Egan reportedly had several friends and family members attend the hearing to show their support for him as his attorney, public defender Ruth Swift, told the court that he’d been struggling with his mental health for more than a decade and assured Lawrence that he would get proper treatment
Ben Wilson, one of Egan’s friends, told the court that he drove more than 100 miles to be there for Egan, Grand Junction NBC affiliate KKCO reported.
“Patrick has been like a brother to me for the last five years,” Wilson reportedly said. “When I got the news of what happened, that’s not Patrick. I’ve seen him get sick before, I’ve helped him in the past and he’s helped me.”
Prosecutors with the district attorney’s office reportedly opposed Egan’s request for lower bond, emphasizing the “very concerning” allegations and the fact that the victim objected to any bond modification.
While keeping Egan’s bond static, Lawrence also ordered that if he is released, Egan is prohibited from possessing firearms and must stay at least 1,000 feet away from Alex.
Lawrence noted that the 1,000-foot restriction includes areas where Alex may be working.
“If you are in a place and you see reporters,” the judge said, “you should probably remove yourself.”
The alleged crime
As Law&Crime previously reported, Egan on Dec. 18 was driving a taxi for a local company called Sunshine Rides when he allegedly tracked and followed Alex for roughly 40 miles to the joint NBC and ABC news station where he works as a multimedia journalist.
Once there, police say Egan allegedly “tackled and choked” Alex before several of his coworkers stepped in to restrain Egan and help the reporter, according to a press release. Alex reportedly told police he thought he was assaulted because of his race — Pacific Islander.
Alex told investigators he was out reporting before he went back to the news station. He said Egan started chasing him immediately after he exited his vehicle. He demanded to see Alex’s identification and allegedly started choking him in an attack that was at least partially caught on surveillance footage.
“[Alex] explained the driver, later identified as [Egan], had begun to shout at him saying something to the effect of, ‘Are you even a U.S. Citizen? This is Trump’s America now! I’m a Marine and I took an oath to protect this country from people like you!’” the probable cause affidavit states.
Alex is described in his KKCO bio as a native of Detroit, Michigan, and 2023 graduate of Clemson University who has resided in “various locations across the Eastern and Southern regions of the United States.”
Egan is currently scheduled to appear in court again on Jan. 16.