DA says police shooting justified

Three Littleton police officers and an Englewood police officer were justified in shooting two women who led police on a violent car chase through three cities in June, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann has determined.

Littleton officers Anthony Guzman, Luke McGrath and Joseph Carns and Englewood officer Brian Martinez knew the car’s occupants had been involved in an earlier carjacking where shots had been fired, McCann wrote in a letter to the chiefs of each department.

The driver, Marta Sanchez, then led police on a high-speed chase where she ran red lights and nearly hit a motorcycle as she tried to elude police. Each time officers stopped the car, Sanchez would drive toward them and race off, the letter said.

Officers shot at the car a total of 44 times over three occasions before the June 29 chase ended.

McCann’s analysis also determined that Guzman had used deadly force when he hit the suspect vehicle with his patrol SUV as it made a left turn.

“With each subsequent use of force, the suspect vehicle’s continued efforts to escape from police demonstrated a brazenness that justified the officers’ fears that the suspects posed a significant risk of danger not only to the officers but to the public at large,” McCann wrote.

The chase ended at the intersection of South Bannock Street and Louisiana Avenue when Sanchez, 26, was shot multiple times, the letter said. She became a paraplegic because of her injuries.

The female passenger, Stephanie Lopez, 32, died at the scene from a gunshot wound to her head, the letter said.

Toxicology tests found that Lopez had methamphetamine, marijuana and alcohol in her system. Sanchez had taken methamphetamine and marijuana, the letter said.

Both women were wanted by police — Sanchez on three arrest warrants and Lopez for a parole violation from the Colorado Department of Corrections, the letter said.