Snowmass man run off road after taking deputies on high-speed chase
An allegedly drunk Snowmass man led a Pitkin County sheriff’s deputy on a chase down Lower River Road on Friday evening that only ended after the deputy ran the man off the road, according to a police report.
K.C. Taylor Steury first came to deputy’s attention about 6:55 p.m., when Steury passed the deputy’s vehicle in a 2003 Subaru WRX going 50 mph in a 30 mph zone on the road through Woody Creek. Steury gunned the car and fled from the deputy when he activated his emergency lights and turned around to pull him over, the report states.
After Steury hit speeds of 60 mph on the rural, two-lane road, the deputy backed off but continued following him. At one point, Steury swerved over the centerline, nearly hit another vehicle head-on, then swerved off the road, overcorrected, then traveled back across the road and into a ditch, according to the report. The crash caused the driver’s side front tire to go flat, while the passenger side front wheel was damaged and sticking out at a 20- to 30-degree angle, though Steury continued trying to elude the deputy.
Steury, who had his dog with him during the chase, then drove through the Phillips Mobile Home Park at a high rate of speed, nearly hitting a pedestrian and other vehicles, before heading back out on Lower River Road. The damage to the front wheels caused Steury to nearly travel off the road several times during the pursuit, before he turned on to Gerbaz Way.
The deputy, who feared Steury might cause an accident if he made it on to Highway 82, then pulled alongside the vehicle and forced it off the road 25 yards before the intersection with the highway, according to the report. Steury smelled of alcohol and was unsteady on his feet after he was arrested, the report states.
Steury, who had a bolt-action rifle within reach during the chase, was charged with felony vehicular eluding as well as misdemeanor charges of DUI, reckless driving, prohibited use of a weapon, speeding and reckless endangerment. The dog was taken to the Aspen Animal Shelter and Steury was transported to the Pitkin County Jail.
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