A 30-year-old community corrections prisoner was arrested late Monday night after he allegedly first tried to run over a Thornton patrol office directing fireworks-related traffic, and then crashed into a police motorcycle a moment after an officer leaped from the motorcycle.
Joseph Albert Ferguson was also arrested for investigation of drunken driving and eluding police, but other criminal charges are possible, said Matt Barnes, spokesman for the Thornton Police Department.
Both police officers who jumped to safety were not injured in the near-collisions minutes apart as fireworks filled the night skies. The names of the police officers have not been released.
There was already an arrest warrant seeking Ferguson before the holiday even began. He was serving a five-year community corrections sentence on a May 9 robbery conviction, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.
Ferguson’s Fourth of July included a long chain of alleged criminal acts.
At 11:24 p.m. Monday, Ferguson crashed through the garage door of a home on the 12300 block of Glencoe Street, Barnes said.
“He drove the car into his own garage,” he said.
At 11:39 p.m., a Thornton police officer was performing Independence Day traffic control when a white Chevrolet Impala came racing toward him on the 11100 block of southbound Colorado Boulevard, Barnes said.
“It was obvious (Ferguson’s) intent was to strike the officer. (The officer) was able to jump out of the way and not get struck,” Barnes said.
Several police officers soon were pursuing Ferguson as he drove south on Colorado Boulevard, Barnes said.
He turned right on 104th Avenue, drove two blocks west and directly toward a motorcycle officer who was trying to stop him at Fox Run Street, he said.
The officer jumped off his motorcycle and leaped over a barricade just in time to avoid getting struck, Barnes said.
Ferguson raced on until officers intentionally crashed a patrol car into the Impala. The “pit maneuver” disabled the vehicle.
Ferguson climbed out of his car and approached officers in a threatening manner, Barnes said. An officer Tased the suspect and handcuffed him.
Ferguson is being held in the Adams County Detention Facility pending formal charges, Barnes said.
The suspect has a long criminal history including convictions for robbery, assault, drug charges, motor vehicle theft, trespassing and leaving the scene of an accident injury, according to court records in Jefferson and Adams counties.
In 2007, he was sentenced to five years in prison on robbery and car theft charges linked to a Wheat Ridge incident, according to Jefferson County District Court records.
