Town of Severance Settles with Former Officer Over Termination for Cause
Severance Police Chief found former School Resource Officer Zacheria Hahn to have “improperly” used his position to “gain influence.”
Kersey Police Department’s newest hire, School Resource Officer Zacheria Hahn, finalized an out-of-court settlement with the town of Severance over a wrongful termination complaint last month.
According to settlement papers signed on January 12 and acquired by Blue Surveillance, Severance paid out $60,000 to Hahn and his legal counsel, with Hahn required to withdraw his wrongful termination complaint from the Colorado Civil Rights Division — among other stipulations.
Hahn was terminated for cause as an SRO with Severance Police Department in March 2025 after he was found to have “improperly” used his position as an officer to “influence” the Weld County RE-4 School District to allow him to conduct his private apparel business — Aloha Apparel LLC — in district schools. He was also found to have violated six department and town policies, and a Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training requirement.
This is according to Hahn’s termination letter, where Severance Police Chief Kenneth Chavez describes Hahn being late on 2024 Christmas orders to District staff and parents, calling the situation "embarrassing" and stating that it “brought discredit and impaired the integrity of both the Department and the Town.” He also states that Hahn drove his patrol car on duty for 11 days with an expired license between December 2024 and January 2025, violating department, town and POST policy requirements of having a valid driver’s license.
In an email to Blue Surveillance, Hahn claimed he “won a wrongful termination lawsuit against the town,” and said in his application to Ault Police Department — where he was hired a month after his termination — that he was “fired for falling behind on orders” in his personal business, “not related to police work,” claiming that it was an “unlawful termination.” Hahn did not respond to a request for further comment.
Severance Police Chief Chavez did not respond to a request for comment before publishing.
The settlement language requires that Hahn acknowledge that Severance does “strongly deny liability or wrongdoing on their part” and that the settlement is “not to be construed, in any way, as an admission of liability, but is only a settlement done for economic reasons.”
Kersey Police Department Chief Jonathan Lange told Blue Surveillance he believes that Severance’s payout equates to admission that Hahn was “wrongfully terminated for his complaints he made against the town.”
On December 2, 2025, Ault Police Department opened an internal investigation into Hahn for excessive force regarding a traffic stop from September. He resigned in January while under that investigation, signed settlement papers with Severance less than a week later, and was hired by Kersey Police Department on Feb. 10 — over a week before Ault’s investigation finished and ultimately exonerated him.
According to Lange, Ault Police Department told Hahn that the internal investigation exonerated him as early as November, so Kersey Police Department saw no issues or wrong-doing on the department’s behalf in hiring him.
He also said the reporting of Hahn’s termination for cause from Severance Police Department and his resignation while under investigation from Ault Police Department — actions required to be reported to Colorado’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Board — were being used as a “bullying mechanism” against Hahn. Lange insists Hahn was exonerated “weeks, weeks and weeks prior” to his resignation, and so Ault’s reporting of Hahn’s resignation while under investigation to POST “was completely unacceptable, and in my book, very unethical.”
Ault Police Department Chief Dakota Germer told Blue Surveillance that Hahn submitted his letter of resignation two weeks after the investigation began on Dec. 2, 2025, and that “he was well aware the investigation had begun when he resigned.” Germer also repeated that he did not receive the investigation report to review until Feb. 18, over a week after Hahn was hired by Kersey PD.
Hahn has a right to appeal the action with POST, and Germer said he spoke with Hahn about submitting documents to POST regarding the investigation, but has not heard from Hahn since. Referring to reporting the resignation while under investigation, Germer said he has “a certain number of days to submit a resignation. I can't just hold it.”
Regarding Ault Police Department hiring Hahn after his termination from Severance, Germer said “being terminated because of his outside employment isn't a terminal reason from my law enforcement agency, or should be from any law enforcement agency legally.”
Hahn’s only reference to leaving Ault Police Department in his application to Kersey Police Department is stating that it was “to better utilize my training and experience.”
Also referenced in his applications is his arrest in 2010 for drinking and driving. Hahn was additionally charged with child abuse through negligence without injury for having a child under 16 in the car, according to a court summons. The child abuse charge was dismissed, and he was convicted of driving while ability impaired, which led to a suspension of his driver’s license, according to court records. He states in his Severance application that he was having a “medical emergency” and drove himself to the hospital.
