An “armed and dangerous” escapee from the Colorado Department of Corrections was taken into custody about 4 p.m. today by the Wheat Ridge SWAT team after the fugitive led police on an extended chase and subsequent standoff.
The suspect, identified as 23-year-old Justin K. Kautz, had fled to an apartment complex at 6150 W. 39th Avenue.
He was found by SWAT team members as they entered and cleared apartments on the second floor of the complex, said Lisa Stigall, spokesperson for the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
Stigall said Kautz, who apparently was injured in a car crash earlier in the afternoon, did not resist.
Lance Clem, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety, said Kautz walked away from a community corrections facility last August.
Clem said Kautz was placed in the community correction facility as part of his transition from prison back into the community.
Clem said that Kautz had been sentenced in Jefferson County in July 2005 on multiple convictions, including aggravated motor vehicle theft, possession of a weapon by a previous juvenile offender, menacing and vehicular eluding. He received sentences between three and six years for the offenses, said Clem.
Clem said that in August 2005, Kautz was sentenced in Adams County to six years in prison for theft.
Stigall said prior to finding Kautz, the Wheat Ridge SWAT team had knocked down the door of the apartment where Kautz was believed to be hiding.
They tossed a “throw phone” into the apartment in hopes he’d with police negotiators, she said.
Stigall said negotiators had earlier called the apartment by regular phone and that all they heard was a recording on an answering machine.
The incident began, Stigall said, when Arvada police were able to locate Kautz driving a Toyota Sequoia.
She said that both marked and unmarked cars from the Arvada Police Department attempted to stop the escapee and his female companion but that the Sequoia evaded the officers.
During the pursuit, one Arvada patrol car hit a curb, causing the airbags of the squad car to inflate.
She said that the Sequoia continued to run, slamming into a red pickup truck at Marshall Street and West 38th Avenue, resulting in injuries to the female driver of the pickup. The woman was coming out of a parking lot at the time of the collision.
The red pickup was spun around 360 degrees on impact.
The injured woman had a laceration on her head but was conscious and talking, said Stigall. She was taken to a hospital.
The Sequoia veered off of 38th, through an empty parking lot and crashed into an unoccupied car, “squishing” the unoccupied car between the Sequoia and a tree, she said.
Although Kautz’s companion was trapped in the car, the suspect fled on foot and ran to the apartment complex where he was surrounded, said the spokesperson.
Kautz’s companion was taken to the hospital.
Stigall said that in addition to the Wheat Ridge SWAT team, Wheat Ridge officers had been on the scene along with the Wheat Ridge Fire Department. Arvada police, Jefferson County deputies and the Colorado State Patrol also responded.
Because of the situation, Jefferson County Schools put three schools on lockdown: Stevens Elementary, Martensen Elementary and Wheat Ridge Middle School. A private school also was locked down.
However, the students were released at 4 p.m., after the suspect was taken into custody.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
