DENVER — A 36-year-old man is in custody after he allegedly stole and crashed a RTD bus before stealing and crashing another vehicle in Denver.
According to a probable cause statement from the Denver Police Department, Solomon David Garcia was arrested on Monday around 6:30 p.m. at N. Federal Boulevard and W. 14th Avenue.
Around 6:10 p.m. on Monday, a RTD bus driver stopped the vehicle at a bus stop in the southbound lanes of N. Federal Boulevard and opened the door. A man, later identified as Garcia, walked onto the bus, told the driver he had a gun and demanded that he get off the bus, according to the probable cause statement. He forced the driver out of the seat and off the bus before driving it southbound.
About 10 minutes later, he allegedly crashed the bus at W. 6th Avenue Frontage Road and N. Lowell Boulevard. He left the bus and went to a nearby residence, where he demanded car keys from a resident. He told the resident that he had a gun was going to kill the person. After a fight with the resident, Garcia ran away, according to the probable cause statement.
Garcia then allegedly approached a third person, who was in the driver’s seat of a white Hyundai Santa Fe in the westbound lanes on W. 6th Avenue Frontage Road. He opened the driver’s side door and told the woman that he’d kill her if she didn’t get out of the car, according to the probable cause statement. The woman got out of the seat and Garcia stepped in and started driving westbound on the road.
At 6:31 p.m., police responded to a two-vehicle crash at N. Sheridan Boulevard and W. 1st Avenue that involved the Hyundai. They identified Garcia in the front seat and he was detained without incident. Police said he was not armed.
Garcia has been placed on an investigative hold for aggravated robbery, but hadn’t been formally charged yet as of 10 a.m. Tuesday.
