A driver led law enforcement officers on a chase down Montezuma County Road G late Friday afternoon before being apprehended about four miles from the Utah state line.
The chase began near Battle Rock School about 4:15 p.m. after a caller reported suspicious behavior from a driver in a white Ford minivan, Montezuma County Undersheriff Jim Kingery said at the scene.
Law enforcement officers were told a man, woman, boy and girl were in the vehicle.
“Our main concern was the safety of the children,” Montezuma County Sgt. John Hancock said.
Kingery and Hancock did not provide the identities or details about the driver or passengers.
The driver headed west from Battle Rock but turned around, heading east toward Cortez, Hancock said. He turned around again and headed west and was stopped several miles west of Battle Rock. The driver narrowly avoided a collision with another car when he made a U-turn on the road, Hancock said.
Kingery said officers stopped the vehicle and boxed it in. The driver was taken into custody, and family members were contacted to pick up the children, he said.
Initially, Cortez police, sheriff’s deputies and the Colorado State Patrol were involved in the pursuit. Cortez police were called off the pursuit, and about a half-dozen state patrol and sheriff’s officers were at the scene of the arrest. A Cortez fire truck and Southwest Memorial Hospital ambulance also responded.
A sheriff’s patrol vehicle sustained minor damage during the chase, Kingery said.
jacobk@the-journal.com
