CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. — Law enforcement officials on Wednesday released the identities of the suspect and the uninvolved driver who were killed when a law enforcement pursuit ended in a crash in Clear Creek County.
The incident began Tuesday morning following a series of vehicle break-ins that happened at the Microtel Hotel in Georgetown overnight.
The Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office said it learned that a suspect vehicle — a Chrysler Town and Country — was in the area of Highway 40 at Floyd Hill just before 2 p.m. Clear Creek County deputies and officers with the Idaho Springs Police Department "staged" at the intersection of Highway 40 and Highway 6 and waited for the suspect vehicle.
According to CCCSO, the Chrysler was traveling westbound on Highway 40 and turned left onto Highway 6. Law enforcement tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver took off westbound on Highway 6 and then went the wrong way on the Interstate 70 eastbound off-ramp.
The sheriff's office said there was "virtually no eastbound traffic due to a rock scaling hold in the construction zone," and law enforcement stopped following the Chrysler.
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Suspect, uninvolved driver killed after pursuit ends in crash in Clear Creek Co.
After a half-mile, the driver of the Chrysler reportedly turned around on I-70 and started speeding eastbound in the eastbound lanes.
Two law enforcement vehicles blocked the I-70 off-ramp to Highway 6. The sheriff's office said the Chrysler drove toward the law enforcement vehicles, and a deputy deployed stop sticks. The Chrysler ran over the stop sticks, according to CCCSO, but kept traveling east on Highway 6 with deflated tires. Law enforcement then initiated another pursuit of the Chrysler.
Shortly after driving through Tunnel 6 at mile marker 259, the Chrysler lost control, according to the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), and crossed into the westbound lanes before colliding head-on with a Lexus RX350. The crash pushed the Lexus off the roadway, causing it to roll before landing in Clear Creek, according to the sheriff's office.
The driver and sole occupant of the Lexus was airlifted to the hospital and was later pronounced dead. The driver of the Chrysler, meanwhile, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A passenger in the Chrysler — a 27-year-old woman — was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
On Wednesday, CSP identified the driver of the Lexus as 51-year-old Steven Ainsworth of Arvada. That same day, CCSO identified the driver of the Chrysler as 29-year-old Christopher Neil Moore.
According to the sheriff's office, Moore was on parole from the Department of Corrections and was allegedly "involved in more than 30 criminal trespasses to motor vehicles across multiple mountain jurisdictions." He was accused of stealing several items during those break-ins, including a firearm and ammunition.
CSP is investigating the crash, while the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office, in partnership with the Summit County Sheriff's Office and other jurisdictions, is investigating the crimes allegedly involving Moore.
"We look at everything that happened prior to the crash, everything that happens during the crash, and everything that happens after the crash," CSP Sergeant Ivan Alvarado told Denver7 Wednesday. "We definitely are very meticulous when it comes to a fatal crash. There are a lot of factors that go into this."
Alvarado said multiple agencies are involved in the investigation.
"We're just going to be talking to a lot of people, everybody that was involved, and like I said, we're going to piece it together, gathering the information that we had prior to the crash, and we're just going to, again, come up with what happened before, what happened during, and what happened right," he said.
Keith Ross, who was visiting Georgetown Wednesday, told Denver7 he was shocked by what had happened nearby.
"You never know if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said. "Because it's so random, you know, you just hope that it doesn't happen to you. You hate to see it happen to anyone."
Denver7 reached out to the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office to learn more about its pursuit policy, but the sheriff was unavailable for an interview Wednesday.
Clear Creek County Sheriff Matt Harris and Idaho Springs Police Chief Nathan Buseck are expected to hold a press conference Thursday morning. Denver7 will be there and will bring you the latest during our Thursday newscasts.
