June 8, 2019

www.nbc1.com

A woman is behind bars after allegedly stealing a CSP patrol car on I-70.

Crash scene near Palisade on Interstate 70, mile marker 42. Photo: David Jones
It all started Friday afternoon, the woman and the man she was driving with crashed the car they were in, just east of the Beaver Tail Tunnel in De Beque Canyon.

Initial Colorado State Patrol reports indicate that car was stolen, according to our crews on scene. That was at about 4 p.m. After the initial crash, we’re told both of them fled the scene and ran up into the hills.

Once law enforcement arrived, the woman somehow got into the patrol car and took off westbound on the interstate before crashing at the Palisade exit, hitting a motorcyclist and another CSP car.

Images of that crash at mile marker 42 can be seen in the video above this article. It doesn’t stop there, the woman apparently decided to keep on driving.

She hopped back on the interstate going eastbound eventually crashing at mile marker 58 on Interstate 70, about four miles before the town of De Beque.

Our crews on scene say she lost control of the car, hitting the guardrail, spinning out, and crashing into the side of the road. That’s where she was taken into custody by Mesa County deputies.

At last check, the man was still on the loose. No word on the condition of the motorcyclist or the woman arrested.

One lane in each direction of I-70 was shut down till late Friday night.