DENVER — A suspected drunken driver dragged a state trooper up to 100 feet early Thursday before crashing his Jeep after a wild chase in Golden and Lakewood.
Trooper Bradley Fox was treated for minor scrapes and returned to work on the investigation, said Trooper David Hall, State Patrol spokesman.
The DUI suspect, Jeffrey Casey, 35, of Golden, had to be extracted from his Jeep Cherokee, which collided with the trooper's cruiser before rolling into vehicles at a used-car dealership.
Casey suffered moderate injuries and was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver.
The crash closed a stretch of West Colfax Avenue for nearly five hours.
The incident began about 2 a.m., when the trooper pulled over the brown Jeep for suspected DUI on West Sixth Avenue.
It's unclear how the trooper's arm got caught in the vehicle, but he was dragged 50 to 100 feet when the driver pulled away, Hall said. Fox jumped back in his cruiser and chased the Jeep into Lakewood with speeds reaching 80 mph, Hall said.
The chase ended on Colfax, where the trooper's car and the Jeep made contact, causing the Jeep to crash into cars at the dealership between Kipling and Simms and roll onto its side.