DEPUTY SUSPENDED IN ECSTASY DEATH CASE

Feb. 16, 2001 - BOULDER - A Boulder County sheriff's deputy has been
suspended and taken off the street as punishment for his handling of
the Ecstasy drug overdose of 16-year-old Brittney Chambers.

A second deputy who responded early Jan. 28 to the Superior home
where Chambers took the pill is still waiting to learn his fate.

Kirk Watson and Kenneth Batka were the first deputies to respond
after Chambers reacted to the Ecstasy she took during a celebration
of her 16th birthday.

Chambers later lapsed into a coma and died Feb. 2 as a result of
ingesting the designer drug.

Watson and Batka showed up at 1 a.m. Jan. 28 and saw that Chambers
was taken by ambulance to Boulder Community Hospital.

But eight other teens, who also supposedly took Ecstasy, were not
taken to the hospital to be examined until about 6 a.m., when
officers returned to Chambers' mother's house.

Much of the probe into the two deputies' actions focused on why they
didn't call for help at the scene when they arrived, Sheriff George
Epp has said.

Watson was placed on administrative leave during the review. He will
now serve a three-day suspension without pay and be sent back to his
former position at the county jail. Watson couldn't be reached for
comment.

Batka was also placed on administrative leave for two days but has
returned to his patrol duties. He still could face more sanctions
following further review by Epp, which will take another week.