FORT COLLINS, Colo. — A man died after fleeing from authorities, driving the wrong way down an exit ramp and colliding head-on with a semi-truck.
Shortly after 7 p.m. on Wednesday, a deputy with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office attempted a traffic stop of a Lexus at East Mulberry Street and Greenfield Court.
The driver of the Lexus didn’t stop the car.
The deputy checked the car’s license plates and found that it was associated with a man who was wanted for an outstanding felony warrant, according to the sheriff’s office.
The deputy pursued the suspect vehicle eastbound on East Mulberry Street and over Interstate 25 at varying speeds, maxing out at 55 mph.
The suspect started to turn the car southbound onto the northbound exit ramp from I-25, so the deputy attempted a low-speed Precision Immobilization Technique to prevent the suspect from turning into oncoming traffic, but was not successful, according to the sheriff’s office. As the suspect continued southbound toward the northbound lanes of I-25, the deputy stopped pursuing the car.
At 7:08 p.m., troopers with Colorado State Patrol responded to the northbound lanes of I-25 by mile marker 269 for a crash. A 1993 Lexus sedan had collided with a 1988 Peterbilt semi-truck and trailer, according to state patrol.
Investigators believe that the Lexus had gone south down the northbound off-ramp and then collided head-on with a semi-truck, which was in the right lane, according to state patrol. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.
The driver of the Lexus, a 49-year-old man from Fort Collins, died at the scene. The driver of the semi, a 24-year-old from North Dakota, was not injured.
The northbound lanes of I-25 were closed from the time of the crash until 12:18 a.m. Thursday.