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Crime Briefs: ‘Really high’ teen leads cops on chase

Ryan Summerlin
rsummerlin@postindependent.com

A 19-year-old man led officers from multiple agencies in a high-speed pursuit on Interstate 70 early Oct. 4.

Authorities first received reports of a white Pontiac sedan driving west in the eastbound lane of I-70 near mile marker 112, just west of Glenwood Springs. The car did not stop for a New Castle police cruiser, and soon a Garfield County deputy, Rifle police officer and Colorado State Patrol trooper joined the chase.

An officer clocked the Pontiac at 108 mph in a 75 mph zone. The car exited at Rifle and continued on Railroad Avenue at 60 mph in a 25 mph zone.



The vehicle pulled into Coal Mine Apartments, where officers found two people in the yard, while a third had fled. Police chased the 19-year-old through neighboring backyards.

Upon arrest, the driver said he thought he was going to be in trouble so he panicked and fled. He told officers that he had smoked about a gram of marijuana about three hours prior. Asked how high he felt when he was driving, the 19-year-old said “really … high,” according to an arrest affidavit.



The 19-year-old’s arresting charges included vehicular eluding, a class 5 felony, along with resisting arrest, DUI, criminal mischief, obstructing a peace officer, reckless driving and four counts of second-degree criminal trespass, all misdemeanors.

A woman with him was arrested on four counts of second-degree trespass, criminal mischief and obstructing a peace officer, all misdemeanors. And another man with them was arrested on four counts of second-degree trespass and criminal mischief, all misdemeanors.

Syringe in bra = contraband

Garfield County deputies arrested a 20-year-old woman early Oct. 21 on a warrant in the Rifle Kum & Go. During the arrest a police dog reacted to a scent in the woman’s vehicle, and deputies discovered a bag with a small amount of methamphetamine and four hypodermic needles.

At the jail, deputies found a syringe loaded with suspected methamphetamine in her bra, according to an affidavit.

She was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance, a level 4 drug felony; introduction of contraband, a class 4 felony; and petty offense possession of drug paraphernalia.

Rowdy ICU patient arrested

A 51-year-old man in Glenwood Springs was arrested on a second-degree assault charge after police were twice called to Valley View Hospital’s intensive care unit over his violent and threatening behavior.

A patient in the ICU, he reportedly had tried to head-butt and bite hospital workers several times. He’d also been throwing things at the hospital staff and threatening to kill them when he got out.

He was already being held at the hospital on a misdemeanor, but he was additionally arrested on charges of second-degree assault, a class 4 felony, along with criminal mischief and menacing, both misdemeanors.

Unwelcome visitor arrested

Rifle police arrested a 22-year-old man living in a camper on first-degree burglary Wednesday after he was reported going into a neighbor’s house and refusing to leave.

He later told police that he and the woman who lived there were friends. He lived in a camper that was parked in the street next to her house.

The woman told Rifle police that she’d repeatedly told him to get out of her house. When he wouldn’t leave she tried to shock him with an electric fly swatter, according to police. He then began breaking things in the house, including a coffee pot and a glass platter.

He was arrested on charges of first-degree burglary, a class 3 felony, and misdemeanor criminal mischief.

Ex-employee arrested on burglary

Stopping for gas Thursday evening south of Glenwood Springs, a Garfield County sheriff’s deputy noticed a young man taking drywall from under a locked gate of Outwest Drywall Supply.

Questioned about what he was doing, the 19-year-old said he used to be an employee and that the company had left the drywall for him to take. The deputy saw there were five 4-by-10 sheets of drywall along with some other drywall tape and compound near the young man’s truck.

The man’s old boss told officers that he was not allowed to take products from the business, and the teen was arrested on charges of second-degree burglary, a class 4 felony, along with second-degree criminal trespass and theft, both misdemeanors.


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