(CHAFFEE COUNTY, Colo.) — The Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) said a driver intentionally caused a rollover crash when they told deputies they needed to urgently use the restroom and forced a vehicle off the road.
Deputies said on Thursday, May 25 at around 7 p.m. the Sheriff’s Office received a call about a rollover crash at Mile Marker 135 on U.S. Highway 285 north of Poncha Springs.
Deputies and Colorado State Patrol (CSP) troopers responded to the crash, finding a green sedan resting on its roof on the east side of the roadway, adding that the vehicle’s driver had been helped out of the car by a passerby. CCSO said it was revealed there was a second car involved in the crash, a red sedan, that was sitting on the southbound shoulder of the road.
Investigators found the crash was not an accident and instead was intentional.
According to Deputies, the driver of the red sedan, 34-year-old Michael Whitcomb of Colorado Springs, was traveling north on Hwy 285 behind the green sedan.
Whitcomb told investigators that the green sedan would not get out of his way and after several attempts to get the green vehicle to move he used a PIT Maneuver, a maneuver police use to force vehicles off the roadway. Deputies report that Whitcomb said he had to use the restroom badly and needed to get the green vehicle off the road.
CCSO said there were no injuries reported as a result of the crash.
Whitcomb was taken into custody at the Chaffee County Detention Facility where he is being held on a $5,000 cash bond with a stipulation of no driving. Whitcomb is facing charges of Reckless Driving, two counts of Second Degree Assault, and Criminal Mischief.