A woman injured during a burglary-turned deadly police pursuit remains in critical but stable condition at Denver Health Medical Center after an early-morning crash killed 28 year-old Steven M. Cook, the vehicle’s driver, as the pair fled police.
Police have not released the woman’s name pending positive identification by family members, said Thornton Police Spokesman Matt Barnes.
The incident started about 12:35 a.m. Thursday when police were called to the Archstone Champions Park apartments, 2525 E. 104th Ave., on reports of robbery with shots fired, Barnes said. Apparently robbers were caught in the act by two homeowners.
“The victims had returned home and found two suspects removing property” from their apartment, Barnes said.
The victims, two men, confronted the two suspects and a “physical confrontation ensued,” Barnes said.
One of the residents of the apartment was slightly injured in the scuffle.
Before police arrived, one suspect ran away and Cook allegedly jumped into a gray SUV, a Jeep Cherokee, and drove off with the female passenger.
As the Cherokee sped from the scene, the driver fired a single shot from a gun. It’s not clear who, or what, the driver fired at, Barnes said.
Police used dogs to search for the suspect who had fled on foot but could not find him.
Meanwhile, Thornton police spotted the Jeep on 104th Avenue and pursued it, but called off the pursuit near the intersection of 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. Highway 287.
A Colorado State Patrol trooper was in pursuit north of Lafayette, about 17 miles from Thornton, when the suspect driver raced through a subdivision and then drove into an open field, Barnes said.
The trooper stopped and called for back-up as the Jeep vanished over an incline.
When back-up arrived a short time later, officers went into the field near the Alexander Dawson School and found the speeding Jeep had crashed into an irrigation ditch.
Cook died in the crash. The Boulder coroner said an autopsy showed he died of “blunt force” injuries.
Records show Cook has been arrested numerous times, including charges of burgarly, drugs, habitual traffic offense, false reporting and aiding a police officer.
Investigators found “numerous” items stolen from the apartment inside the mangled Jeep, Barnes said, along with about 94 grams of marijuana and an amount of a substance police believe to be crystal meth.
Barnes said the woman was “a person of interest,” but did not know if she would face criminal charges.
The Denver Post
