Suspect dead after running from authorities in Colorado during traffic stop

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - A suspect is dead and an investigation is underway following a traffic stop along a Colorado highway Thursday morning.

Colorado State Patrol is reporting a trooper noticed a vehicle traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes of C-470 near I-70 at about 1:50 in the morning.

“The Trooper was able to stop the vehicle. As the Trooper walked up to speak with the suspect, the male suspect immediately got out of the vehicle,” a news release from Colorado State Patrol reads. “Upon initial interaction, the Trooper suspected impairment. While trying to ID the driver, the suspect reentered the vehicle from the passenger side and climbed into the driver’s seat. The Trooper tased the driver to prevent him from escaping and endangering other motorists. The suspect removed the taser probes, started the vehicle, drove down a grassy median, over a retaining wall, and landed onto the eastbound I-70 off-ramp to westbound Highway 6 toward Golden.”

More details were shared on Tuesday, including body camera video that can be viewed at the top of this article. Warning, the video at the top of this article is edited and some images are blurred, but the content of the video can be hard to watch because it involved the suspect being hit and killed while appearing to run from authorities.

State Patrol is reporting the suspect then ran from law enforcement and jumped a concrete barrier onto eastbound I-70 where he was hit and killed by a passing vehicle. The driver of the vehicle that hit the suspect stayed at the scene and authorities had not released the suspect’s name last time this article was updated.

The incident forced the closure of part of I-70 for several hours Thursday morning.

The investigation is ongoing.

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