State Patrol pursuit reveals open containers in habitual drunk driver’s truck in Colorado Springs
Mackenzie Stafford
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – According to arrest documents, just after 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Colorado State Patrol (CSP) was notified of a potentially impaired driver going 6 mph on I-25 near Monument.
CSP followed the driver with lights and sirens on, trying to pull them over. The agency details a 30-mile-per-hour pursuit of the red Dodge pickup truck. Troopers say the driver refused, so CSP pinned the front of the truck.
In arrest documents, Troopers say that the suspected drunk driver hit the gas and reversed across all southbound lanes until they crashed into the concrete barrier.
Once the driver’s truck was pinned in place near the Rockrimmon exit, CSP says the agency started to command the driver to exit the vehicle. CSP says the driver, later identified as Dean Moore, barricaded himself inside and would not comply.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPSO), Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) and the Palmer Lake Police Department (PLPD) all came to assist, according to CSP.
CSP says that in an attempt to get Moore out of the vehicle, they broke his truck windows. When he still would not comply, CSP says they sent in an EPSO K9.
After about 45 minutes, Dean Moore, age 60, of Colorado Springs, was taken into custody by law enforcement. CSP says the agency found several open alcoholic beverage containers in Moore’s truck.
INITIAL REPORTING: State Patrol says suspected drunk driver led police chase that caused I-25 closure
But arrest records reveal Moore has pleaded guilty in four prior driving under the influence cases. Before that, Moore pleaded guilty in two separate driving while ability impaired cases.
Vanessa Simmetcole got caught in the backup with her family while they were on their way to see Christmas lights. She recounted seeing many law enforcement vehicles blocking the highway.
“Traffic has been getting worse and worse, I feel like, throughout the years, but that was, like, the most intense thing I’ve ever seen,” explained Vanessa Simmetcole.
She said they were stuck for about an hour, but that it’s worth it if lives were saved from an alleged drunk driver.
“My daughter was in a car accident last year with a drunk driver. She’s 16, but she has scars and trauma from that, so, like, I don’t want someone out there driving who’s had a history of doing that,” shared Simmetcole.
Simmetcole tells KRDO13 that it’s not ok for Moore to be out driving, especially since he’s had multiple prior driving under the influence charges.
Moore is being held in the El Paso County Jail, facing driving under the influence, vehicular eluding, reckless endangerment, reckless driving and open alcoholic beverage container charges.
CSP tells KRDO13 the reporting driver in this case, called *CSP, or *277. They say it streamlines the process to have troopers respond as fast as possible.
“Calling 911 still can be effective. However, that will go to the 911 emergency dispatch. Whereas if you’re dialing *CSP that *277 number, it does go directly to us. So that way it does take out that middleman of 911. Then transferring that call over to us and transferring it to that specific area,” explained CSP Trooper Gabriel Moltrer.
(Courtesy ODOT)
