A man and woman were killed Saturday morning when they were ejected from a pickup truck after the driver rammed a Colorado State Patrol car during a high-speed chase near Glenwood Springs, authorities said.
The two people may have been intoxicated at the time of the 5:16 a.m. collision on Colorado 82, 4 miles south of Glenwood Springs in Garfield County, said Gilbert Mares of the Colorado State Patrol.
Their names were being withheld pending notification of family members, Mares said. The patrol also is withholding the name of the trooper, who was not injured.
The trooper pulled over a black and gold Ford pickup he saw weaving on the highway, but after he got information from the suspect and turned to go back to his patrol car, the driver sped away, said Trooper David Hall.
A five-minute high-speed chase on the winding, two-lane highway ensued.
A second patrol car joined the pursuit, and the troopers decided to try to box in the suspect’s pickup by having one of them pass the pickup and then slow down, Hall said.
But when the first patrol car tried to pass the pickup, the suspect rammed into the side of the patrol car, in an attempt to run the trooper off the highway, he said.
As the suspect did so, he lost control of the pickup, which rolled twice into the median, Hall said.
The two occupants of the pickup were thrown from the truck as it rolled, Mares said.
The woman was pronounced dead at the scene and the driver was taken to Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, where, he said, the man was later pronounced dead.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
