DENVER — The front door of Electric Dream Boutique on South Broadway was still boarded up on Wednesday after a man violently attacked the door with a metal pole, shattering the glass as he threatened the employee inside.
The entire incident was caught on video by the store’s surveillance cameras.
In the video, you hear the attacker screaming at an employee while smashing out the glass on the front door.
“It was awful and it’s not the door – he went after her,” said Adrienne Scott-Trask, owner of Electric Dream boutique where the usually soft, colorful, and inviting entryway is now boarded up. “It’s a constant. We constantly have groups of people smoking meth out here, fentanyl, you name it. There is heavy drug usage outside of our store. I’m always cleaning up pee, vomit, blood clots.”
As Denver7 was conducting an interview with Scott-Trask, a man vomited all over the sidewalk as passers-by tried not to notice.
“Look at this,” Scott-Trask said with a wince. “This is unbelievable. This is what we deal with every single day. I don’t know what’s happening to our city.”
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It’s an issue Denver7 has reported on extensively. Shop owners on South Broadway said unhoused people are constantly camping out in their alcoves and doorways, while the sidewalks are frequently littered with foil, lighters, baggies and other drug paraphernalia.
Less than a month ago, someone set the door on fire at Refillanthropy just down the street.
“It happens a lot. And it’s something that I think people don’t realize,” said Luke Johnson, president of the Broadway Merchants Association.
Johnson recently opened a new location of Luke & Company Fine Pet Supply on South Broadway. He said store owners are fed up.
“A lot of folks, I think, used to be really shy to say that there’s a correlation between crime and the unhoused population,” Johnson said. “And I think now that we’ve been doing this for more than four years where it’s been really intense, people are getting really tired of not saying that.”
Scott-Trask places the blame squarely on the mayor.
“I would 100% sadly say the mayor right now,” she said. “When sweeps are happening downtown, they are basically bringing that all to our neighborhood.”
She said the focus on downtown Denver is ruining neighborhoods like RiNo and South Broadway.
“I think the damage to the image of downtown has already been done,” Scott-Trask said. “Denver residents don’t hang out down there. Tourists are the only people who are down there.”
Johnson blamed it on drug use.
“Unfortunately, it all seems to be linked to drug use,” he said.
Scott-Trask now wonders if the trouble of running a shop in the area is worth the costs.
“This isn’t worth it for me anymore,” Scott-Trask said. “I have no life. This is taking over everything, and it’s not even enjoyable anymore. They’ve taken the joy out of my hopes and dreams, and that sucks the worst.”
The Denver Police Department said it arrested the man who attacked the store.
