Cops hit carjackers on I-25

Thornton police intentionally slammed into a speeding carjacked SUV early Friday morning as suspects tried to elude police by going south onto the northbound lanes of Interstate 25, causing the car to spin and then roll off the ramp and down onto the shoulder of the highway.

Police arrested four adults who sustained minor injuries after the car rolled off the 104th Avenue exit ramp of I-25 at 1:10 a.m.

“They had to stop the suspects when they went the wrong way onto I-25 to prevent them from hitting oncoming traffic,” said Victor Avila, spokesman for the Thornton Police Department, explaining why police performed a “pit maneuver” on the carjacked vehicle.

Two men and a woman allegedly carjacked an SUV near Mississippi Avenue and Raritan Street around midnight Friday morning, according to Christine Downs, spokeswoman for the Denver Police Department.

About an hour later, a Thornton police officer spotted a car matching the description of the carjacked vehicle at 102nd Avenue and Quivas Street.

When officers turned on their emergency lights, the suspected carjackers sped away.

But when the car turned sharply south onto the northbound off-ramp of 104th, police officers intentionally rammed the car to prevent it from hitting other cars, Avila said.