Morgan County Sheriff’s deputies made an arrest after a man allegedly stole a tractor-trailer and rammed into a multiple cars and injured several people during a pursuit.
Deputies said the semi was allegedly stolen from the Sterling area and was initially pursued by Sterling Police, and later by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office and ended with Morgan County. Officers chased the truck through Brush and west on Highway 34 when the truck hit another car and injured that driver.
The truck continued to Barlow Road in Fort Morgan, where it then rammed into a parked, occupied police car, also injuring the officer, deputies said. As the chase continued, a pedestrian was nearly hit and the driver attempted to run down an officer who fired shots at him.
The pursuit was ongoing through many city streets, when the truck turned south on Colorado Ave and drove into oncoming lanes of traffic and hit a car head-on, injuring both people in the car, according to deputies. The driver eventually jumped out of the moving semi, and ran into a house in the 800 block of Custer Street.
The suspect, later identified as 29-year old Christopher Dean Luedtke, was taken into custody and will face multiple charges including Attempted First Degree Murder (including Attempted Murder of a Peace Officer), and First Degree Assault, as well as several felony and misdemeanor charges related to the pursuit.
Deputies said a total of 10 cars were damaged or destroyed, and five people were injured with minor injuries. There was also damage to street signs, trees, curbs and electric poles.
The final listing of charges will be determined by the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
