DENVER – Five people, among them a Fort Morgan Police Officer, were injured after a man reportedly stole a semi and led three law enforcement agencies in a wild chase across two counties in northeast Colorado Saturday night.
The semi was apparently stolen from around Sterling and was initially chased by officers with the Sterling Police Department and later by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, where the pursuit entered Morgan County, a Sheriff’s deputy said Sunday.
Law enforcement chased the truck through Brush and west on Highway 34, where the suspect allegedly struck a vehicle and injured its driver. Police in the area fired on the driver to prevent him from injuring more people, but the driver was able to continue to Barlow Road in Fort Morgan, where he hit a parked and occupied Fort Morgan police vehicle at Riverview Avenue, injuring the officer. That officer was taken to a hospital for treatment. The officer's condition is not known at this time.
The semi then continued east on I-76 and got off the interstate at Hospital Road, where it reportedly drove through Love’s Truck Stop, nearly hitting a pedestrian before continuing down Hospital Road to Mill Street, the Morgan County Sheriff said in a press release.
Deputies said the suspect then tried to run down a Brush Police officer at Brush Middle School, but deputies said the officer fired at the driver who continued on and rammed and destroyed the officer’s patrol car.
As the truck turned south on Colorado Avenue, deputies said the suspect then drove into the oncoming lanes of traffic and struck a northbound car head-on, injuring two people inside. A few blocks away, the driver of the stolen semi then reportedly struck another vehicle near Cameron and Eaton Street, injuring two more people, according to the sheriff’s office.
That vehicle was pushed into a tree and rolled on its side, up against a house and a fence, deputies said.
Continuing down city streets, the driver of the stolen semi then jumped from the moving vehicle in the 800 block of Custer Street before he was shot at as he broke into a home. He was taken into custody a short time later.
The suspect was reportedly treated and released from a hospital with minor wounds and was booked into the Morgan County Jail.
