Shortly after midnight on June 18, 1966, nineteen-year old Daniel Juarez, the complaining witness, driving a car with a teenage friend, stopped for a traffic signal at the intersection of 7th and Kalamath Streets in Denver. Juarez testified that while he was waiting for the "go light" the defendant Gonzales and one Ernest Apolinar walked up to his automobile. Apolinar grabbed Juarez around the neck while defendant pointed a gun at him and called the teenagers "punks." Juarez escaped by quickly accelerating the car. Juarez had noted a couple of police cruisers parked a few blocks away, so returning there he found the policemen and told them of his encounter with the defendant.
