Law enforcement officers from Rocky Mountain National Park, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, and Estes Park Police engaged in a joint operation Sunday evening that involved a vehicle pursuit and a two-vehicle crash in the vicinity of US Highway 36/Spur 66 to the Beaver Meadows Entrance.
Jeff Paige, who is building a home on High Drive, reported that Park Law Enforcement Rangers were in pursuit of a white pickup truck before it collided with a silver sedan near his property.
According to a statement issued by Kyle Patterson, Management Specialist/Public Affairs Officer for RMNP, a 23-year-old-male sped through the Grand Lake entrance on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Park Law Enforcement Rangers were notified and attempted to pull the man over. He failed to yield and continued to drive recklessly on US Highway 34 (Trail Ridge Road) passing vehicles at high rates of speeds over the 48 mile stretch of this mountain highway through the park.
Because of the suspect’s high rates of speed and recklessness, law enforcement rangers backed off on the pursuit, according to Patterson.
Law enforcement personnel attempted to slow the vehicle at Deer Ridge Junction and placed strip sticks near Beaver Meadows Entrance. The suspect continued to travel at a high rate of speed south past the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center and hit a grey sedan with three individuals inside. All three individuals were transported by ambulance to Estes Park Health, one with critical injuries.
The driver of the pickup truck exited the truck and took off running, crossing the median that divides US Highway 36/Spur 66 from High Drive northeast toward a residential along High Drive in Estes Park. The driver eluded being apprehended at the scene and at 5:47 p.m. law enforcement issued a shelter-in-place alert with guidance to avoid the area.
Paige said it took first responders more than 40 minutes to extricate an individual from the sedan which had been headed into RMNP.
The road into RMNP from Estes Park was closed and police blocked traffic from entering High Drive from an area right behind Bird and Jim’s at 915 Moraine Ave. as a house-to-house search was conducted.
“We did not see anything until we saw the lights of the ambulances,” said Paige who also said someone saw the driver of the truck throw what looked to be military dog tags at a park ranger. “I have never seen this many police cars and firetrucks and ambulances,” said Paige.
According to the alert issued by the Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority—LETA 911—police are looking for a white male, 5 foot 9 inches, 165 pounds, bald, no shirt, and blue jeans. Law enforcement said the suspect appeared to have a head injury from the motor vehicle crash. Additionally, the suspect is not wearing shoes.
In a message received by the Estes Valley Voice at 8:04 p.m. from Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Officer for Rocky Mountain National Park the individual was also not wearing shoes.
Law enforcement believes the individual is a suspect in a felony burglary case out of Grand County that remains under investigation.
If anyone sees the individual fitting the description of the driver of the white pickup truck, they are advised to not approach the person but to call 911.
During the search for the suspect, police blocked traffic from entering the residential area to the west of Bird and Jim’s along High Drive as a street-by-street and house-by-house search for the individual was conducted. Around 10 p.m., after individual properties were searched, some residents and individuals who were staying in short-term rentals were allowed to reenter the area.
According to a statement released by RMNP Monday at 12:18 a.m., the suspect was still at large.