COLORADO SPRINGS – The Colorado Springs Police Department has released the affidavit for the arrest of Richard Matthew Payne, who was arrested after stealing and then crashing a CSPD patrol vehicle last Saturday.
According to the affidavit, at 6:05 p.m. on 2/9/19, CSPD received a call about a man stumbling into traffic in the area of West Uintah and Wood Avenue. Just after 7 p.m., Sgt. Jeffrey Maxson located the man in the area of Uintah St. and I-25 at the southbound on-ramp.
Sgt. Maxson parked his marked patrol vehicle on the on-ramp with emergency lights flashing. He contacted the man, who identified himself as Richard Payne. The Sgt. told Payne to sit on the curb after patting him down and removing a folding knife from his person.
Maxson said Payne began to tense up and then stood from the curb and told the Sgt. Maxson to “shoot him.” Payne then ran onto the on-ramp and threw himself onto the hood of a moving vehicle. He then ran toward the intersection with Uintah and threw himself onto the hood of another vehicle.
The affidavit states that Payne then rand towards the Sgt., again telling him to shoot him. Payne then ran past the Sgt. towards the police cruiser and tried to get into the vehicle. The two met at the vehicle, but Payne was able to get the lower half of his body inside the vehicle. The Sgt. was able to grab onto the steering wheel.
According to the affidavit, Sgt. Maxson was still holding the steering wheel when Payne began driving up the on-ramp with the accelerator fully depressed. Maxson let go of the steering wheel and rolled “numerous” times on the pavement before coming to rest on the east side of the ramp.
Other officers responding to the location then reported seeing a police cruiser traveling south on I-25 before colliding with an unknown object. They then went to the location of the police cruiser and found Payne lying face down on the ground with the top quarter of his body underneath the police cruiser. Payne was then pulled from underneath the vehicle and placed in handcuffs. Both Payne and Maxson were transported to Memorial Central for medical treatment.
Payne was placed under arrest for driving under the influence.
According to the affidavit, the Sgt. was dragged more than 50 yards by the police cruiser. The cruiser, valued at less than $20,000, will likely be totaled.
The affidavit request that Payne be charged with Assault in the Second Degree, Aggravated Motor Vehicle Theft, and Driving Under the Influence.
