Authorities released the name of a woman who was a passenger in a stolen pickup when an alleged accomplice was shot by a deputy being dragged by the truck.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said the passenger in the pickup was Della Graf, 34, who was arrested for investigation of theft by receiving.
Graf, who was arrested Aug. 19, the day of the shooting, is being held in the Arapahoe County Detention Facility on a $10,000 bond.
She has numerous previous arrests for shoplifting, drunken driving and drug possession, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.
The driver, who was shot and seriously injured, remains at Denver Health Medical Center in serious condition.
That woman’s name has not been released while authorities continue to investigate other leads in the case, said Perry Schellpfeffer, spokesman for the Englewood Police Department.
Schellpfeffer said police are not required to release the name of the driver in the case because she has not been charged and is not in custody.
“She is going to be in the hospital for a lot longer than people think,” he said.
Schellpfeffer said that when the suspect’s condition improves, she will be arrested and transferred to the Arapahoe County jail.
Jefferson County sheriff’s Deputy Art Peterson, 52, was seriously injured after he approached the pickup the woman was driving near South Santa Fe Drive and West Dartmouth Avenue. Peterson grabbed onto the truck and fired at least one shot as the vehicle was speeding away.
The next day, a large SWAT force arrested Wheat Ridge residents Michael Richard Smith, 24, and his girlfriend, Joleen Palmer, 25, on unrelated warrants when they found items that had been in the stolen truck. They were later released on bond.
Both say they were not involved in a chop shop or an auto-theft ring. Smith said authorities took a stolen motorcycle engine from his property. He said he did not know it was stolen.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
