We tend to think that violent video games like Grand Theft Auto (GTA) grossly exaggerate reality, but the events of a dramatic car chase that unfolded in the Denver area on Wednesday morning prove that sometimes, reality can trump fiction.
The televised police chase took off after Ryan Stone, a 28-year-old man wanted in a drug case, car-jacked a Ford Edge SUV with a four-year-old boy inside from a gas station in Longmont, Colorado, at 6:20 am, reported 9News. It was discovered later that Marta Rodriguez had left her 4-year old son Allan in the car with the engine running while she jumped out to go inside the gas station.
When she became aware of what had happened, the boy’s mother contacted the cops and an Amber Alert was issued.
About an hour later, at 7:30 am, Stone ditched the SUV leaving the boy behind and…car-jacked a second vehicle, a minivan, throwing out the two passengers and hit the highway weaving through traffic, reportedly exceeding speeds of 100mph (160km/h) at times.
At 8:03 am, Stone struck state trooper Bellamann Hee, who was putting down stop sticks in an effort to apprehend him. The officer was hospitalized with serious injuries, but is expected to make a full recovery.
Now get this; Stone then abandoned the minivan and car-jacked a third vehicle (!) pulling out a young lady, who put up a fight, but wasn’t able to stop him. This would be Stone’s last car-jack as he crashed the vehicle into another automobile and tried to make a run for it on foot, before cops apprehended him.
An NBC report said that the suspect “smashed into at least a half-dozen cars during the police pursuit”.
Stone has been charged with numerous felonies ranging from multiple aggravated auto thefts to kidnapping and assault.
By John Halas
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