Boulder, CO - The jury for a misdemeanor case before the 20th District Boulder County circuit court has found a Boulder man not guilty based on his defense of "I forgot."
Eric Lewellen of Boulder was arrested on April 19th after a Boulder police officer observed Lewellen fail to stop at three stop signs and fail to pull over when the officer pursued Lewellen's car with the police cruiser's lights and siren on.
Lewellen did not stop his vehicle until he had pulled into and parked in a Taco Bell parking lot. Lewellen exited his vehicle and rushed into the restaurant quickly ordering two "Mexican Car Bomb" drinks.
When confronted by the officer with the observed traffic violations, Lewellen replied "Dude, sorry about that, I completely forgot that stop signs meant I had to stop." Lewellen was taken into custody by the officer.
At Lewellen's trial on April 25th, he claimed that he forgot that stop signs meant he had to stop his vehicle. Similarly, he claimed that he forgot he had to pull over when pursued by a police cruiser with its lights flashing. Lewellen said "I totally thought the cop was heading to like a bank robbery or something."
The jury found Lewellen's defense compelling and rendered the not guilty verdict. After the trial, the lead juror stated "I understand what he was saying. When you have to get to Taco Bell, you have got to get to Taco Bell. I once forgot to wear pants when I went to Walmart."
