Wellington – Amber Street and her 8-year-old sister, Teresa Cagno, were playing outside their home Saturday when a man trying to elude police ran through their back yard.
“He pointed a gun at me,” said Amber, 12. “He didn’t say anything. I was extremely scared. I couldn’t believe it happened.”
Their neighborhood in this Larimer County town of 2,800 residents had suddenly turned into a crime scene.
Events began unfolding about 2:30 p.m. when a Colorado State Patrol officer noticed a car traveling southbound about 90 mph in a 75 mph zone on Interstate 25 about eight miles south of the Wyoming/Colorado border.
When the trooper tried to stop the car, it took off. A chase ensued with speeds up to 130 mph, according to the State Patrol.
Police later determined that the car, a 2001 Dodge Intrepid, had been stolen in Denver.
“They were driving recklessly on the shoulder and median and driving people off the road,” said Colorado State Patrol spokeswoman Joy Grissom.
Authorities said the men crossed four lanes and the median in an attempt to get off on the 278 exit ramp to Wellington.
They didn’t make it. The car slammed into a guardrail and the suspects took off running across a field and into the 8000 block of Fifth Street, where Amber and her sister played.
A neighbor, Paul Harmor, was relaxing in his yard when he saw two men run between two houses.
Unknown to Harmor, his dog, P.D., or Puppy Dog, a pit bull and chocolate Labrador mix, was in hot pursuit of the men – and so were the police.
“The two men saw the dog, fell to their knees and put their hands above their heads,” Harmor said.
Shortly thereafter, a third suspect was found hiding in a basement window well in an unoccupied home, police said.
According to the State Patrol, the crashed car contained at least four weapons and jewelry that may have been stolen in other states. The jewelry’s value was estimated at between $50,000 and $100,000.
Investigators also found a substantial amount of marijuana.
The capture of the trio, none of whom were identified, brought welcome relief to the normally quiet town located about 70 miles north of Denver.
“It was a neighborhood effort,” Harmor said. “No one did nothing heroic.”
Staff writer Julianne Bentley can be reached at 303-820-1201.
