DENVER – Police say they are looking into “several” other incidents that happened Friday night that may have involved the man arrested for driving a stolen tractor through downtown Denver as their investigation continues.
Thomas Busch, 37, is being held for investigation on motor vehicle theft, first-degree assault and vehicular eluding charges in the incident but he had not been formally charged as of Monday.
Police said Monday that they were looking into other incidents that happened Friday night that may have been related to Busch’s actions and said they were speaking with witnesses.
Police also on Monday released the probable cause statement for Busch’s arrest, which shows that two tasers used on Busch were “not effective” in subduing him and that a K-9 officer was brought in to get him into custody.
The probable cause statement says that Busch stole the Denver Water tractor and got into a hit-and-run crash with another car near the intersection of E. 11th Ave. and Colorado Blvd. just before 8:30 p.m. Friday.
He then continued driving through City Park, crashing into fences, driving on grass and sidwalks. Busch continued driving into downtown Denver, going the wrong way on one-way streets and threatening pedestrians, police wrote in the probable cause statement.
Police rammed the tractor to get it to stop in order “to end the chase before [Busch] was able to hurt anyone,” the probable cause statement says. One officer suffered minor injuries when the ramming occurred.
The probable cause statement says that Busch “fought officers” after the tractor had been disabled and that officers had to use their tasers twice on him, though both times were “not effective in subduing Busch.” They then used a K-9 officer to get him into custody. An officer was bit in the process, police said.
Busch was taken to Denver Health after his arrest to be treated for injuries he received while police were trying to arrest him, the statement says.
The alleged tractor theft is only the latest in a list of dozens of others charges in Busch's criminal history, dating back to 1999.
Court records obtained by Denver7 show Busch has been arrested for burglary, domestic violence, robbery, assault; and several traffic offenses including vehicle theft, hit-and-run, driving with a suspended license, careless driving, driving under the influence, among others.
A court appearance that had been scheduled to take place Monday afternoon was continued to another date.
Police are still looking for people who have videos or other information about the incident to call 720-337-1000.
