Two In Custody After Leading Police On Chase Through Five Mountain Counties
EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Two people are in custody after a chase involving Colorado State Patrol troopers, police, and sheriff's deputies from five counties.
The chase started on Thursday evening around 7:24 p.m. when deputies tried to stop a Volkswagen Jetta driving at 120 miles per hour on I-70 just west of Eagle. Troopers pursued for about three miles before stopping the chase.
A few minutes later, another trooper spotted the car 27 miles of the original location. At that point, the car was driving around 140 miles per hour and waving in between traffic. Troopers deployed measures to deflate the tires of the car, but the Jetta was able to avoid those measures. Troopers did not pursue the car.
Ten minutes after the failed tired deflation, Vail Police tried to stop the car, but did not chase.
Law enforcement found the car at a rest stop roughly seven minutes after Vail Police's attempt. A female passenger surrendered but a male driver got back in the car, went off the road and on to a bike path, and hit a State Patrol vehicle. The trooper in that vehicle was not hurt.
The man drove the Jetta into Lake County. Troopers were not pursuing.
Several minutes later, a 911 call came into dispatch about a driver on Trout Creek Road regarding a vehicle with no headlights on that had passed them on the shoulder at a high rate of speed.
An hour later, at roughly 9:00 p.m., Park County deputies spotted the car driving 138 miles per hour. They tried to catch up and stop the vehicle, but could not catch up.
Eight minutes, later, deputies found the Jetta abandoned on Wilkerson Pass, involved in a one-car crash. The driver had run from the car. A search team comprised of several different agencies searched the area through the night. The man was found around 5:00 a.m. Friday morning.
The suspect, a 17-year-old man, was taken into custody. He is facing several pending charges.
The vehicle was determined to have been stolen out of Los Angeles. Colorado State Patrol tells CBS4 the driver was on his way to Wisconsin.
No law enforcement officers were hurt in the chase.