AURORA | Adams County judicial district investigators will lead the inquiry into a Denver Police car-chase into Aurora Monday evening that left four bystanders and two cops injured, and the suspect critically injured from a gunshot wound.
Events leading to the car chase began just after noon Monday when Denver Police were called to the parking lot of the Bass Pro shop in Denver’s Northfield shopping district to investigate a shooting.
Information from that incident led to police looking in the region for a suspect and his vehicle.
“About 4:30 p.m., Denver Police Officers spotted this same vehicle in the area of East 46th Avenue and Tower Road,” Aurora Police Agent Matthew Longshore said in a statement. “A pursuit of that vehicle went southbound on Tower Road, merged onto eastbound Interstate 70 and finally to southbound Interstate 225.”
Denver Police chased the car into Aurora on the interstate toward Colfax.
“Just south of the East 17th Avenue exit, Denver Police Officers used a ‘pursuit intervention technique’, also known as a PIT maneuver, to disable the suspect’s vehicle,” Longshore said.
The controversial maneuver involves a police car coming alongside a pursued car and turning into it, forcing the chased car to make a sharp turn and stall.
During the maneuver, “multiple different vehicles were struck, but it ultimately stopped the suspect’s ability to continue fleeing,” Longshore said.
When officers approached the suspect’s crashed car, they discovered, “a man driving the vehicle, and only occupant, suffering from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Longshore said. “There is no evidence at this time to suggest that any police officers fired their weapons.”
The unidentified man was taken to a nearby hospital and remains in critical condition.
“In total, seven vehicles were involved in the crash, and six people transported to the hospital,” Longshore said. “Of those six, two were Denver Police Officers.”
According to state law, the Critical Incident Response Team for the 17th Judicial District in Adams County was assigned to investigate the incident.
Details about injuries suffered by the bystanders were not released.
Hot shot idiots only caring about themselves and machismo. Injuring the innocent is of no concern. Not every crime needs a car chase and smart policing would have gotten the suspect without the injury to people and damage to property. Denver picked up our bozos that left. Good on them. Now the settlements will cost the citizens of Denver and not Aurora.
How would you capture a fleeing agg assault suspect while guaranteeing no injury or property damage? What magical solutions do you think the police should implement?
“Events leading to the car chase began just after noon Monday when Denver Police were called to the parking lot of the Bass Pro shop in Denver’s Northfield shopping district to investigate a shooting”
You are literally advocating for police to allow random shooters to go unscathed. That area is filled with children and families. What type of society are you trying to live in?