An “intoxicated,” knife-wielding Colorado man was shot by cops after stealing a marked patrol car — and then trying to respond to a domestic-violence call, according to officials.
Jeremiah James Taylor, 33 — who was already on probation for menacing, theft and DUI — broke into a Park County Sheriff’s Office substation and stole a squad car in the early hours of Monday, according to an affidavit.
He then drove to neighboring Teller County on a call about domestic violence, where “the reporting party” said he “appeared intoxicated” and had “damaged” the squad car, the affidavit said.
At one point, he allegedly jumped out of the stolen squad car and asked, “Where’s the old man that’s going to shoot someone?”
A local deputy who had actually been dispatched for the call then confronted Taylor — who instead “accelerated at a high rate of speed” toward a local highway, the report said.
He then led “several marked” patrol cars on a chase that reached up to 110 mph for “several miles with other civilian vehicles on the road,” the document said. During the chase, he committed numerous traffic violations, officials said.
“That was one of my biggest concerns that we were going to have a high-speed pursuit with a law enforcement vehicle crashing into an innocent citizen,” Park County Sheriff Tom McGraw told KDVR.
Taylor eventually crashed and wrecked the patrol car, jumping out and running into woodland, the affidavit said.
Once cornered, he pulled out a silver knife, getting shot once after a Taser failed to stop him, authorities said. He was taken to a hospital “due to self-inflicted knife wounds,” the cops said.
He was hit with a slew of charges, including aggravated theft of a vehicle, impersonating a peace officer, reckless driving, resisting arrest and reckless endangerment.
He is also “being investigated for numerous other crimes that were committed in the area shortly before this incident occurred,” Teller County officials said. He was being held on $12,000 bond, records show.