A robbery suspect was killed early Thursday when he crashed his sport utility vehicle after an on-again, off-again 17-mile police chase.
Steven M. Cook, 28, was killed and a woman riding in his vehicle was critically injured when they crashed into an irrigation ditch in a Boulder County subdivision, Thornton police said.
The incident started shortly after 12:30 a.m., when police were called to the Archstone Champions Park apartments, 2525 E. 104th Ave., on reports of robbery with shots fired, said Matt Barnes, a Thornton Police Department spokesman. Apparently the robbers were caught in the act by two homeowners.
The homeowners, two men, confronted the two robbers and a “physical confrontation ensued,” Barnes said. One of the residents of the apartment was slightly injured in the scuffle.
Before police arrived, one robber ran away. Meanwhile, a man later identified as Cook allegedly jumped into a gray Jeep Cherokee and drove off with a female passenger.
As the Cherokee sped from the scene, the driver fired a single shot from a gun. It is not clear who, or what, the driver fired at, Barnes said.
Police used dogs to search for the robber who had run from the scene but could not find him.
Thornton police spotted the Jeep on 104th Avenue and pursued it, but they called off the pursuit near Sheridan Boulevard.
The Jeep headed north, and various law enforcement agencies picked up the pursuit at different points, Barnes said.
Eventually the Jeep headed north on U.S. 287.
A Colorado State Patrol trooper was in pursuit north of Lafayette, about 17 miles from Thornton, when the driver raced through a subdivision and drove into an open field, Barnes said.
The trooper stopped and called for backup as the Jeep vanished over an incline.
When backup arrived a short time later, officers went into the field near the Alexander Dawson School and found that the Jeep had crashed into an irrigation ditch.
