Two men were in custody Tuesday after a police chase and gunfight that left a Commerce City officer with a bullet wound to the leg.
Shane Hotton, 30, allegedly fired the shot at the officer as he was fleeing with Zach Mathias, 23.
The incident started about 11:40 p.m. Monday when police were called to the 6500 block of Olive Street on a report that shots were fired.
“Some guy, apparently angry about something, was firing into the air,” said Lt. Chuck Saunier, a police spokesman. The shooter got into a red Pontiac Grand Am and fled before police arrived.
An officer, whom police did not name, pursued the Pontiac, turning on his lights and siren, Saunier said. Shots were fired from the Pontiac at the police cruiser.
A bullet went through the officer’s driver door and struck him in the leg.
The pursuit continued, and several shots were exchanged.
The Grand Am crashed at 56th Avenue and Monaco Street, and those inside — including Hotton and Mathias — were taken to a local hospital to be treated for injuries. Hotton and Mathias were detained.
According to Colorado Bureau of Investigation reports, Hotton and Mathias have extensive criminal arrest records. In addition, both men have done prison time.
Hotton was arrested in 1997 for possession of methamphetamine and a year later was arrested for trespassing, larceny and forgery. He went to prison for a year for the forgery charge and three years for trespassing, CBI records show.
He was a fugitive from community corrections and violated his parole in the years that followed, which landed him in prison again for parole violation.
Then in 2003, he was arrested for possession of dangerous drugs, resisting arrest and possession of drugs with the intent to distribute. He went back to prison in 2004 for drug possession.
Mathias was arrested in 2002 for DUI in Thornton, then again a year later for a probation violation, which he followed up with an arrest for vehicle theft in 2004.
He has a series of traffic offenses that landed him in prison for 15 months beginning in 2006. A year later he violated his parole, then was arrested in September for third-degree assault, disorderly conduct and larceny in Northglenn.
