Grand Junction police pursue truck on fire, arrest driver

A 24-year-old man was jailed on nearly a dozen charges Thursday after leading Grand Junction Police Department officers on an early morning pursuit while the bed of his pickup truck was on fire. 

Grand Junction officers responded to the intersection of 12th Street and North Avenue at approximately 2:10 a.m. Dispatchers were told by multiple people calling 9-1-1 that a black Dodge truck's cargo bed and exhaust pipe were on fire, per a recording of police radio traffic. 

The first officer in the area found the truck and attempted to pull it over for a traffic stop using lights and sirens, according to the arrest affidavit provided to CBS4. 

On police radio, the officer reported, "I have the roadway on fire as well, (I am) not exactly sure what happened." 

After continuing to drive a short distance, the truck did pull over, but facing west in the eastbound lane of traffic, according to the affidavit. The driver could be seen moving around inside the cab, but vaguely due to heavily tinted windows. The driver refused to come out of the truck as instructed by two officers, then sped off at a high rate of speed, swerving and nearly hitting the second officer's patrol car, according to the affidavit. 

Officers soon found the truck again parked in an alley. The driver, while responding verbally to officers, refused to come out of the cab and again raced away as police approached the driver's side door. 

"I got into my patrol vehicle and followed smoke trail," the second officer, Benjamin Mitchell, stated in the affidavit. He found the truck had crashed through a fence and almost into the corner of a house at 10th Street and Teller Avenue. 

Because the truck was too damage to continue driving, officers were able to get the driver's side door open. 

The driver, later identified as Dawson Fitch of Silt, came out swinging. 

"The male then said something similar to 'I would fight you if I knew how to,'" Off. Mitchell stated in the affidavit. 

Fitch was taken into custody without injury to himself or the officers. A black handgun was found in the cab's center console. 

A GJPD spokesperson, Kelly Clingman, said the fire in the bed of the truck was caused by a can of gasoline that tipped over and spilled due to Fitch's reckless driving. The truck caused several small fires along the shoulder of the roads that were traveled during the 15-minute pursuit. The fire department was called in to extinguish those fires. 

A person later approached the crash scene and told officers he had been drinking at a bar earlier with Fitch. That person said Fitch was in a bad mood and "seemed like he wanted to start trouble," according to the affidavit. That witness saw Fitch get into a large Dodge truck and recklessly drive away.

Officers were also called to a motel in the 1800 block of North Avenue following reports of a lifted black truck performing donuts and burnouts in the parking lot and adjacent grassy area. Officers counted 12 vehicles that were covered in mud and grass as well as a large section of the building.

Fitch is scheduled to be advised Thursday afternoon in Mesa County court. The list of charges includes DUI, eluding, leaving the scene of a hit-and-run accident, assault on an officer, and prohibited use of a weapon.