Downtown tractor chase ends in crash

A man driving a tractor led authorities on a pursuit through Denver on Friday night before colliding with a police vehicle at 15th and Market streets.

Video on social media showed more than a dozen squad cars giving chase, with multiple civilian vehicles hit, forcing authorities to shut down the intersection of 15th and Blake streets.

The driver reportedly suffered multiple dog bites while resisting arrest and eventually was taken into custody by police.

Emergency responders were called to the scene to treat the suspect and officers injured during the pursuit.

Addie Hooper, 20, visiting from Amarillo, Texas, with her mother and sister and a family friend, was eating at a window seat at a restaurant and facing Market Street. Suddenly she saw a tractor speeding down the road. Then she saw a Denver police SUV, traveling the wrong way down Market, crash headon with the tractor.

“We were just like, ‘Whoa, that’s crazy!’ ” Hooper said.

Immediately after the crash, police vehicles flooded the street, and officers rushed the tractor with guns drawn, including the officer who crashed the SUV into the tractor.

“We thought they were going to shoot him,” Hooper said.

Instead, officers used a stun gun on the driver, who was put into an ambulance and driven from the crash scene.

Two injured officers were taken to a hospital. Their injuries were not lifethreatening.

There were no other official reports of injuries.

Tyrone Campbell, a Denver police spokesman, described the incident as a slow-speed chase that started in the City Park area and finished downtown on a busy Friday night. Police were concerned for the safety of pedestrians and drivers and made a quick decision to end the incident by ramming the tractor.