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Crime Briefs: Cocaine and Fireball fuel 111-mph chase

Ryan Summerlin
rsummerlin@postindependent.com

Garfield County deputies last Saturday deployed a spike strip on Interstate 70 near Rifle to end a high-speed chase involving a red Hyundai Sonata clocked at up to 111 mph.

Gun drawn, a deputy directed the driver from the vehicle and saw that he was “extremely unsteady on his feet,” according to an arrest report. The same was true for two male passengers in the front and back seats.

The 27-year-old driver told a deputy that he didn’t stop because he had just been in a fight in Glenwood and was trying to get home. He said that he hadn’t looked behind him and never saw the patrol car with flashing lights.



The deputy pointed out that he had been only a couple car lengths behind the Sonata, according to an affidavit.

The man had “bloodshot, glassy, watery” eyes and appeared sleepy, the deputy reported. With slow and slurred speech, smelling of alcohol, he told the deputy that he pulled over because he thought he hit something.



The deputy also found his license was revoked and that he had a restraining order barring him from possessing or consuming alcohol.

Asked why the driver did not stop, the rear passenger told deputies that the driver was “extremely intoxicated and had been looking at his phone, so he didn’t know what was going on,” according to the arrest report. He also said the driver had not been in a fight that night.

The driver told officers he drank three or four beers in Glenwood. Later he said he had three “Jack and Cokes.”

In the vehicle deputies found a half-empty 200 milliliter bottle of Fireball Whisky. They also found an uncapped 750 ml bottle of Fireball outside the passenger-side door, spilling onto the ground. In the dirt deputies also found a small bindle containing nearly 2 grams of cocaine.

The 26-year-old, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was arrested on possession of a controlled substance.

The 27-year-old driver was arrested on felony vehicular eluding, along with misdemeanors including violation of a protection order, DUI, driving under restraint for an alcohol offense and reckless driving.

ruckus in Rifle

Just past midnight July 31, Rifle police received reports of an intoxicated man kicking the gas pumps at Kum & Go and kicking cars at the Rodeway Inn.

At the scene, officers could hear a man yelling off and on nearby. A witness directed them to the end of the street, where the intoxicated man was sitting in someone else’s truck. Officers found him with the center console open and its contents strewn about. The man told officers that he was trying to go home.

In his pockets, officers found a knife that had been in the truck, two cell phones and a pipe suspected to be used for methamphetamine. He denied having done any drugs, telling officers that he was just drunk, according to an arrest report.

The 37-year-old man had a protection order barring him from drinking or possessing illegal drugs.

He was arrested on charges of felony first-degree criminal trespass, misdemeanor violation of a protection order, as well as petty offenses of theft and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Robbery amidst domestic violence

Neighbors around Morning Star Drive in Battlement Mesa reported hearing someone crying out for help the night of Aug. 3.

A witness heard a man and woman yelling outside, then “a loud bang as if someone had hit something.” The woman was yelling for someone to call 911 and screaming “help me.”

A deputy arrived on foot and found an enraged man standing outside and yelling.

The deputy saw a knife lying in the grass between them. The deputy detained the man without incident, though the man continued to be enraged, saying that his father was the problem. The man “was very agitated stating that he would ‘finish it’ that he wanted to get to his father and stated he would ‘kill him,’ ” according to the affidavit.

The man said that his father had been abusing his mother, and when she ran away, saying that the father was going to kill her, the son tackled the father.

The mother had just come home from work and found the father drunk and demanding money, she told deputies.

While the two were arguing, the father agreed to leave if she gave him her money. When she gave him only $30, he demanded more. He threatened to harm her if she did not give him more money. When she saw an opening, she fled from the house and screamed for help.

While deputies were waiting for backup, the 57-year-old man eventually came out the front door wearing a towel asking “why do you come here,” according to the arrest report. A deputy cuffed him, noticing the smell of alcohol on him.

Officers found an open folding knife in the front yard. The 57-year-old man had said it was in his pants.

He was arrested on felony robbery, along with misdemeanors for third-degree assault, obstruction of telephone services and criminal mischief. Domestic violence was added as a sentence enhancer.


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