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Police: Teen leads officers on wild chase between Granby, Winter Park

Drew Munro
dmunro@skyhidailynews.com
Grand County, Colorado

A 17-year-old driving a pickup truck is suspected of leading officers on a high-speed chase from Granby to Winter Park early Sunday morning ” about 20 miles ” in 11 minutes.

“He was going in excess of 100 miles per hour,” said Granby Chief of Police Bill Housley.

A Grand County Sheriff’s deputy had issued the Hot Sulphur Springs area teenager a citation for allegedly exceeding the speed limit by about 30 mph near Windy Gap just minutes before the chase began, Housley said.



The chase started at about 2:24 a.m. Sunday after officers clocked the suspect speeding at two different locations in Granby, Housley said. When officers tried to stop the suspect near City Market, he sped up and attempted to flee, the chief said.

Two Granby police units pursued the suspect to Tabernash, where other officers were just beginning to set up “stop sticks” to try and end the chase, said Fraser-Winter Park Police Chief Glen Trainor.



Stop sticks are designed to puncture and deflate a vehicle’s tires.

“He was able to avoid these in the Tabernash area,” Housley said, but he hit a stick near Fraser that deflated two of his tires. Trainor said that took place near County Road 5 before the suspect entered Fraser.

But having two flat tires only slowed the suspect down a bit, Housley said.

“He was going 50 to 60 miles per hour on the rims” between Fraser and Winter Park, he said.

The suspect turned the late model Toyota pickup off U.S. 40 at King’s Crossing, where the Granby officers, assisted by two Fraser-Winter Park Police units, tried to use their cars to block him in.

“He (the suspect) hit the back end of one squad, and then he put it in reverse and hit one of our cars,” Housley said.

According to the Grand County Dispatch call log, the chase began at 2:24 a.m. and the suspect was in custody some 20 miles away at 2:35 a.m.

Trainor said the suspect was alone in the vehicle.

Housley said the suspect, whose name is being withheld because he is a juvenile, is likely to face charges that include speeding, reckless driving, eluding, 1st degree assault (for ramming the cars) and possession of handgun.

A handgun was in plain sight on the front seat of the pickup, Housley said, adding that it was “very fortunate the gun was not deployed” and no one was hurt during the incident.

” Drew can be reached at 887-3334 ext. 19610 or dmunro@skyhidailynews.com.


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