A police officer chasing suspects in a carjacking and armed robbery early this morning crashed into a southwest Denver home.
Neither the officer nor anyone in the home was injured; a female suspect was taken to a local hospital with injuries, said Lt. Matt Murray, a Denver Police Department spokesman.
Details on the woman’s injuries were not available.
Shari Dunn, the homeowner, was asleep in her front bedroom when the police car came crashing through the wall, taking out a dresser and a glass table.
“The bed shook and there was stuff flying through the air,” a shaken Dunn said. “It was pretty weird.”
Dunn scrambled out of bed and threw on a bathrobe, she said, and another officer was immediately knocking on the front door to check and see if everyone was OK.
The chain of incidents started about 1:25 a.m. when police were called about a carjacking at 4842 Morrison Road, Murray said. Police were told a handgun was used in the carjacking and a woman was among the suspects.
At about 2:45 a.m. an officer was flagged down near West Warren Avenue and South Sheridan Boulevard about an armed robbery of a cab driver, Murray said. Again, a woman was among the suspects in the armed robbery of the cabbie.
About 15 minutes later, police spotted a small green sedan at South Osceola Street and West Evans Avenue that matched the description of the car taken in the carjacking. Police pursued the sedan, Murray said.
The sedan fled at high speeds eastbound on Jewell, then the driver turned north on Lowell Boulevard.
At that point the sedan collided with a patrol car in the intersection, sending the police car crashing into Dunn’s home in the 1800 block of South Lowell Boulevard.
The patrol car also clipped the back end of Dunn’s 2003 Dodge Ram pickup and it took out a mature shade tree in front of the single-story home.
Brandin Gallegos, Shari’s 18-year-old son, was sleeping in a back bedroom.
“At first I didn’t know what it was, since I was dreaming,” Gallegos said. “When I went into my mom’s room I could see it was a car.”
Gallegos watched, amazed, as the officer pulled himself out of the wreckage.
“You could tell he was still a bit stunned,” Gallegos said.
The crash caused a gas leak and Xcel was called to the home to turn off the gas.
Three men and a woman have been arrested in the case. Their identities were not released.
It’s not clear if any shots were fired by suspects in the mayhem.
Police believe the people who carjacked the sedan were the same group who stuck up the cabbie, Murray said.
Dunn took the day off from work to call her home insurance company and tidy up. She was so anxious about the damage – to her home, truck and front yard – that she couldn’t eat. Still, she tried to remain positive.
“I can see a nice, new window there,” Dunn said as she looked at the front of her home.
“I don’t blame this on the cops,” she added. “I blame the bad guys.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
