A 21-year-old man from New Mexico was arrested Sunday on suspicion of stealing a car at the Sky Ute Casino Resort and leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase that ended in Durango.
Michael Jay Ahkee of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, is suspected of aggravated motor vehicle theft and being a fugitive from justice.
Chris Burke, spokesman for the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, said a report came in late Sunday that the Southern Ute Police Department was pursuing a black Nissan Altima that was stolen at the casino in Ignacio.
Around 11 p.m., Sheriff’s Office deputies located the car traveling north at a high rate of speed near the 100 block of Colorado Highway 172, just north of Ignacio, in southeastern La Plata County.
Authorities pursued the vehicle, Burke said. The chase eventually reached U.S. Highway 160, with the stolen vehicle traveling west toward Durango.
Colorado State Patrol Capt. Adrian Driscoll said officers set spike strips near Santa Rita Park in Durango, which flattened the driver’s side tires on the stolen vehicle. The car continued to drive on rims, making a left onto Highway 160, in west Durango – about 22 miles from the casino.
Driscoll said a state trooper near the Wapiti Lodge used his vehicle to spin the stolen Nissan off the road, and another trooper used his vehicle to pin the car.
Two suspects were taken into custody without further incident, Burke said. Another male passenger was in the vehicle and taken into custody on a minor warrant, Burke said.
No officers were injured in the chase.
The suspects were treated at Mercy Regional Medical Center and then taken to the La Plata County Jail.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
