A 23-year-old who led a high-speed chase through Wheat Ridge in a stolen SUV last year was sentenced today to 12 years in prison.
Jefferson County District Judge Stephen Munsinger sentenced Branden Kyle Winters after he was convicted of charges that he stole the sport-utility vehicle and eluded police in school zones and in a park at speeds up to 80 mph. The car chase ended in a fiery, head-on collision with a police cruiser.
Winters also was ordered to pay more than $60,000 in restitution.
The chase on Feb. 20, 2010, began when Winters rammed the SUV into a police cruiser in a gas station parking lot, prosecutors said.
The chase ended after a head-on collision with another cruiser, in which both vehicles bursts into flames. Neither the officer nor Winters were seriously injured, however.
Winters ran away and hid in the crawl space of a nearby home, before he was taken into custody with the help of a police dog.
He pleaded guilty to vehicular eluding, second-degree assault and third-degree assault on a peace officer in December.
