STOLEN RIG LEADS TO WILD RIDE ON PRAIRIE

Four people needed hospital treatment after a man stole a tractor-trailer truck on the prairie northeast of Denver in Sterling and led police from three agencies on a chase, ramming vehicles including two police cars and plowing into oncoming traffic, before the driver jumped from the moving rig and tried to escape.

Police fired shots at the white Peterbilt truck along U.S. 34 and as it tore through Brush, hitting an oncoming car and injuring two people in it. Later, when the man bailed out in Brush, he ran into an occupied house and the truck crashed into parked cars.

Police bore down on that house. The man was taken into custody and, after treatment for minor injuries, was locked up Sunday night in the Morgan County Jail, authorities said.

“I’ve been a cop for 33 years in this jurisdiction. I’ve never seen an incident as scary as this. We are thanking God we don’t have more people hurt or dead,” Morgan County Undersheriff Dave Martin said.

“Police from two different agencies shot at the vehicle at different locations trying to stop the driver,” Martin said.

One of the victims was held overnight Saturday at the hospital.

The authorities declined to identify the suspect, other than to say he lives near Brush. Other victims were treated and released from the hospital..

This trouble began Saturday night near Sterling where the man stole the truck, possibly where it was parked, Martin said.

“I assume he just got in it and started it,” Martin said. “Perhaps the keys were in it.”

Police there began the chase. Then Logan County deputies got involved.

The man drove the truck along various highways into Morgan County. Deputies there joined the chase.

They followed the truck along Highway 34 and into Brush, where the truck hit a vehicle, injuring its driver. The truck kept rolling to Fort Morgan, where the driver hit a parked Fort Morgan police car near Riverview Avenue, injuring the police officer inside, authorities said. Then it moved eastward on Interstate 76 and then off an exit at Hospital Road, rolling through a Love’s Truck Stop, nearly hitting a pedestrian. A bridge at Denver International Airport partially fell on top of a Regional Transportation District bus that was too tall to squeeze underneath it Sunday morning.

Shortly after 6 a.m., an RTD driver set out to start a new route shuttling passengers in lieu of the University of Colorado ALine, which is temporarily closed for construction, RTD spokesman Scott Reed said. He missed his turn, though, and continued heading straight until he came upon the 9-foot bridge.

The bus didn’t have the clearance to fit under the bridge,striking it and causing it to partially collapse.

The driver had minor, non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital, Reed said. The Denver Police Department cited him with careless driving. There were no passengers on board.

The airport closed the bridge, which is located at the entrance of the east parking lot, and the roadway leading up to it, airport spokeswoman Emily Williams said. The airport is assessing the bridge to make sure it is structurally sound.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office had two suspects in custody as it investigated two separate homicides that occurred Saturday.

The first homicide happened at about 2:10 a.m. on Lipan Street north of West 70th Avenue. A suspect was taken into custody on suspicion of second-degree murder.

Then, just before 4:30 p.m., another homicide occurred on Broadway north of Colorado 36. A wildfire burning in a rural area east of Colorado Springs forced a mandatory evacuation of Ranch of the Rockies, a subdivision located near Hartsel.

The 5-acre fire, nicknamed the Kaufman fire, was reported at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, burning in Chaffee County and on the border of Park County, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The forest service said the fire was human-caused and was being spurred by grass and gusting winds. A 17-year-old girl died Sunday when the vehicle she was driving with a friend crashed on Colorado 109 near La Junta.

A friend, who was riding in the front passenger seat, was not injured, Colorado State Patrol Trooper Gabe Easton said.

Denver on Sunday tied a record high for temperature set April 29, 1948, hitting 83 degrees, National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Fredin said.