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0 A handcuffed suspect managed to free himself from the back of a Colorado police cruiser and steal the vehicle, leading officers on a high-speed chase that only ended when he fatally crashed into a parked semi, dramatic new footage released Wednesday showed.
The video showed police stopping Anthony Sanchez III after an initial chase by ramming the back of his car. That spun him around and allowed police to surround his vehicle.
He was being chased after nearly hitting other cars on the road, when police stopped him they found a gun in his vehicle.
Officers put Sanchez into the back of a cruiser with his hands cuffed. He wiggled free in the backseat, getting his hands to the front of his body – though still cuffed – and sped off in the cruiser.
That led to a second chase, which ended when Sanchez violently crashed into a parked truck. He later died from his injuries.
Law enforcement officers had to perform a tactical vehicle intervention on Anthony Sanchez’s III car after he refused to stop for alleged reckless driving
After taking him into custody, Sanchez fled in a police vehicle. That chase ended in a fatal crash
Colorado troopers said around 11am on June 20, they were called to assist Otero County Sheriff’s deputies, who were in pursuit of a suspect on Highway 50 in Otero County.
The vehicle was reportedly called in as a ‘shots fired’ call. And the suspect was reported to have caused multiple crashes and attempted to cause head-on crashes with other vehicles on the road.
Troopers initially stopped the suspect’s vehicle by hitting the back of the car driven by Sanchez. Officers took him into custody and found the weapon in the vehicle.
Video released this week showed police stopping Sanchez’s car and surrounding it. He quickly put his arms up and surrounded after cops spun his vehicle around.
Sanchez was cuffed with his hands behind his back when he was led to the back of a State Police cruiser.
Video footage from the back of the cop car showed the suspect squirm over his handcuffed hands so that they’re no longer behind his back. He then managed to get himself to the front seat of the vehicle and sped down the highway as officers realize what’s happened.
Sanchez was wanted by police for alleged reckless driving, and officers had to ram his car to get him to stop
Stills from the police bodycam footage show Sanchez being arrested after his vehicle was forcibly stopped
Sanchez’s hands were placed behind his back as he was put into a State Police cruiser
Colonel Matthew Packard, chief of the Colorado State Patrol, said on Wednesday of the suspect’s maneuver, ‘we don’t see that very often, but it’s not the first time.’
‘It’s based on the suspect’s flexibility and physical ability to do that. But again it’s not the first time we’ve seen that happen.’
Packard said that the suspect was in the car for only about 90 seconds before he managed to slide into the front seat and drive away.
In body camera footage, a state trooper can be heard saying the suspect must have crawled through the center window and added that his rifle was still in the vehicle when the suspect fled.
Police who were standing near the arrest site then tried to run after the car to no avail.
That led to a second chase where speeds reached more than 100 miles per hour. The dramatic pursuit went on for 21 minutes and covered 37 miles.
Eventually, troopers deployed stop sticks to try and get Sanchez to end the chase.
Video showed the stop sticks – portable spikes that go across the road to puncture tires and slow fleeing cars – sliding across the road just before Sanchez drove over them.
Sanchez’s car immediately hit the spikes and veered into the side of a semi-truck parked along the road. His cries of pain could be heard following the wreck.
Police arrived at the scene and sprinted to his mangled vehicle. They worked to free Sanchez from the wreckage, and noted he was alive at the time. The front end of the car was badly smashed and debris was strewn across the road. There was also smoke coming from the vehicle.
Sanchez was taken to the hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
He is handcuffed and escorted into a police patrol car
Once inside the patrol car, he was seen wriggling into a position that allowed him to steal the car
After a 37 mile high speed chase, Sanchez was thwarted by a stop stick and crashed into a truck
The fiery crash caused the patrol car to burst into flames. Sanchez later died of the injuries he sustained in the crash
The driver of the truck was not injured.
Packard said that the investigation into the incident remains ongoing.
‘The process we’re looking at now is what actions did our members take? And if those actions were in accordance with training and policy and if they were do we need to update that training or policy? Do we need to look at equipment to change things?’ he said.
Packard added that state Police will look specifically at the crusier’s theft device to determine whether it was used, defeated or potentially malfunctioned.
The use of the stop-stick deployment will also be linvestigated, he said.
