A holiday party beatdown, a stolen car, a high-speed pursuit and more in Garfield County crime briefs
House party turns violent
A man was arrested for allegedly assaulting someone at a house party in Rifle on Saturday.
Police responded to the house around 2:30 a.m. and found the owner had a bloody nose, swollen eyes, ripped shirt and bloody hands, according to arrest documents.
The victim said a man and son had come to the party. The victim made a comment about the suspect having a handsome son, which upset the man.
According to a witness, the host hadn’t done anything to deserve the beating, but the suspect punched the host, and then kicked him when he fell to the floor.
The suspect said kicking the fellow on the ground had broken his foot, according to the witness. The suspect fell asleep, but beat the victim again when he woke up, the witness said.
Police located the suspect at his home, after his son apparently drove him home. The officers found blood smears on the passenger side door of the son’s car.
The 41-year-old suspect faces felony assault charges.
Cousin absconds Jeep
A 21-year-old man allegedly stole his cousin’s Jeep while she was traveling and her husband was in the shower.
The suspect had been living with his cousin and her husband in Carbondale, according to probable cause documents.
When the husband got out of the shower Saturday, he noticed that his wife’s keys were missing, along with her cousin and her Jeep.
The man filed a report, and then called police the next day and said the Jeep was probably in Utah.
The suspect had been messaging his “baby mama,” and told her that the Jeep was parked along Interstate 70 maybe 150 miles into Utah, according to the husband.
Carbondale police contacted Utah State Patrol, who located the Jeep more than 160 miles west of the Colorado border.
The suspect was arrested Christmas eve, and faces charges of aggravated motor vehicle theft, a felony.
Man flees police because he was driving without insurance
A short police chase in Rifle started with a driver passing a car over a solid double yellow line.
The sheriff’s deputy observed the illegal maneuver, turned on his lights and pursued.
The vehicle made several turns at high speed, ran a stop sign, and wouldn’t stop even when the deputy turned on his sirens, according to a probable cause statement.
The vehicle turned into a Kum and Go, and came to an abrupt stop in the parking lot.
Once the 21-year-old man was in custody, he waived his right to remain silent, and told the deputy he was scared “because he did not have vehicle insurance and didn’t want to get into trouble.”
The deputy said that passing on a double yellow would have been a lesser charge than felony eluding, which made the suspect cry, according to the probable cause statement.
A passenger in the car said she had told the driver to stop multiple times.
The man faces charges of vehicular eluding, a felony, along with several traffic infringements.
Deputy interrupts Christmas car burglary
A truck driver called 911 just after 3 p.m. Christmas Day to report a suspicious person breaking into a Subaru on I-70.
The car had hit a deer, and had been left on the roadside awaiting a tow.
A Garfield County Sheriff’s deputy was only a few miles away, and arrived in time to see a man at the back of the Subaru.
The front window had been broken in, and the man was wearing black gloves, the deputy wrote in a probable cause document.
The suspect told the deputy that his friend “Tony” owned the car and told him to retrieve the items. The suspect didn’t have Tony’s number.
The suspect had arrived in his own car, even though his driver’s license had been revoked.
The sheriff found a screwdriver, possibly used to break the window, along with several small packages that likely contained methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine or fentanyl.
The owner of the Subaru, who was not named Tony, said the grill found in the suspect’s car had been in his car.
The man faces charges of criminal trespass, a felony, and misdemeanor theft and criminal mischief, along with various drug possession charges.
