Suspect In Dramatic Police Chase Has Long Criminal Record
LONGMONT, Colo. (CBS4) - Police in Longmont have identified the suspect in Wednesday morning's dramatic car chase and he has a long criminal history.
Ryan Stone, 28, was captured after an hour-long car chase and is expected to face kidnapping and carjacking charges.
Stone was arrested in Douglas County after the chase started in the north Denver metro area and then wound through several different counties. (Full Story)
"This was a very dangerous person," Douglas County Undersheriff Tony Spurlock said.
A Colorado State Trooper was seriously hurt in the chase and multiple cars were damaged.
CBS4 has learned Stone has a 12-page-long criminal record that dates back to 2003. He has previously been in prison and didn't want to return. People familiar with Stone say that is why he ran.
Stone was due to appear in court on Wednesday. Before his arrest Wednesday morning he had served several years previously in prison on a variety of charges, including harassment, assault, weapons charges and drugs. He was paroled a couple times, put back in and finally discharged in October of last year.
Even before the chase and his arrest Stone was being sought. Two bounty hunters, Will Ellenburg and Mel Edington, who had been on his trail told CBS4 when they heard of the incident beginning out of Longmont, they had a feeling it involved Stone.
"I have been trying to talk to Ryan trying to get him to turn himself in," Ellenburg said. "All he said was he couldn't do the time … he didn't want to go back to prison."
"This morning when I had heard on the radio that there had been a vehicle stolen and a high-speed chase coming out of Longmont, it didn't take rocket science to put two-and-two together and figure out that is what he was doing; that that was our guy," Edington said.
The bounty hunters said Stone was a known methamphetamine and marijuana user.
On Tuesday a female friend of Stone's named Julie Pawlak was arrested in Longmont in a stolen vehicle and said she was with a man named Ryan. She declined to talk to CBS4.
Stone lived in a Centennial home with his brother. His neighbor, Melissa Wilson was watching the TV during the chase.
"He slipped and fell, his coat came off," Wilson said. "It looked like him, he's a buff man, and I said, 'That looks like Ryan.' "
