AURORA | Attorneys in the 18th Judicial District on Thursday exonerated five Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies who shot at a car carrying three people, killing one of them, in a high-speed chase through the southern portion of the metro area last November.
In a six-page criminal culpability review, Deputy District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District Larry Bailey said the five deputies were justified in shooting at a stolen Infinity SUV more than 20 times during the 15-minute pursuit across the metroplex.
“All five deputies who fired during or immediately following the pursuit had reasonable grounds to believe, and did believe, that he or another person was in imminent danger of being killed or of receiving great bodily injury because of the Infinity’s occupants’ actions,” Bailey wrote. “Therefore I find, based on the law and the facts, that Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputies Nicholas Arnone, Anthony Weiss, Joshua Anderson, Justin Ruisi, and Blake Davis all were justified in using or attempting to use deadly force to terminate the pursuit and arrest the suspects involved.”
The driver of the car deputies were chasing, 19-year-old Nicholas Ryan of Aurora, was shot and killed during the pursuit. Ryan was facing several criminal charges in Jefferson County, according to a Nov. 28 report published in the Denver Post. He was scheduled to appear in court the same day he was shot and killed.
No deputies were injured during the incident, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock told reporters during an early morning news conference shortly after the chase.
Deputy Arnone attempted to stop the gray Infiniti SUV, which investigators believe was stolen from a rental car firm shortly before the chase, after watching the driver run a red light around 3 a.m. on Nov. 27 near the intersection of South Broadway and C-470 on the border of Littleton and Highlands Ranch, according to prosecutors.
After Arnone began to follow the car, “the Infinity began significant weaving,” according to the DA’s report. Once on C-470, the car accelerated to “speeds over 100 mph, and possibly up to 120 mph,” the report said. At one point, the car was traveling about 80 mph driving south in the northbound lane on South Quebec Street.
One of the occupants inside the vehicle then began firing at Arnone.
The occupants of the car threw several items out of the windows of the car and repeatedly shot at officers throughout the chase, according to prosecutors. The majority of officers named in the review returned fire using handguns, although one officer, Deputy Ruisi, fired eight shots using a rifle, according to prosecutors.
Deputies Weiss and Anderson fired at the stolen car using their handguns as it sped through Centennial away from the Park Meadows mall. Weiss fired seven times and Anderson fired three times, according to prosecutors.
The stolen Infinity then travelled north toward the intersection of Interstate 25 and East Dry Creek Road. Ruisi fired at the vehicle near Dry Creek and Chester Street as it sped by him, striking the front passenger.
Arnone and Deputy Shawn Irvin then intentionally crashed multiple cruisers into the stolen car on Dry Creek under the I-25 overpass, causing it to stop and high center on a median.
Arnone and Deputy Davis each shot at the passengers of the wrecked car after they began moving inside the vehicle and refused to heed officers’ demands.
Ryan, the driver, was shot twice, according to an autopsy report. His toxicology report also indicated “acute methamphetamine use,” according to the DA’s report.
Because all of the officers who fired their weapons used the same type of bullets, the coroner was not able to determine which officer fired the fatal shots.
Investigators were able to determine that Ruisi fired and struck the front passenger of the car, 21-year-old Jason Sutton, with a rifle during the chase, according to prosecutors. Sutton survived the gunshot after he was treated for his injuries at a local hospital. He is facing five felony charges, including car theft and vehicular eluding.
Sutton is due to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. on April 22, according to Vikki Migoya, spokeswoman for the 18th Judicial District.
The backseat passenger in the car, 20-year-old Peirce Langewisch, was not injured in the incident and was arrested at the scene on an outstanding warrant for failing to register as a sex offender, according to Spurlock.
Investigators believe Langewisch fired most of the shots at the officers during the chase. He’s currently facing 15 felony charges, including four related to the attempted murder of a police officer, according to Migoya. Langewisch is also facing a pair of misdemeanor charges and a sentence enhancer, the latter of which would only be enacted if he were to be convicted.
Langewisch is slated to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. on April 22.