ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — A pursuit that began in Englewood and ended in a crash in Littleton on Monday started when the owner of a storage unit called police to alert them about a woman at the business who was wanted on warrants.
The owner of Extra Space Storage, at 3325 South Santa Fe Drive, called Englewood Police around 11:15 a.m. to tell them that the woman was at the business. According to an arrest affidavit, officers had asked the owner to contact them if the woman showed up. It was not clear what charges the woman was wanted on.
According to the document, the owner said the woman was in a Lexus with a man he did not recognize. The owner said he knew the woman because she frequently lost her keys and asked management to cut the lock from her unit. He said that was what happened Monday morning.
Officers converged on the Lexus and ordered the man driving to stop and put up his hands, the affidavit says. Instead, the man, later identified as David Sonsalla, drove directly at two officers in an attempt to get away.
One of the officers grabbed the other by his vest to pull him out of the way of the oncoming vehicle, the affidavit says. While trying to get out of the way, an officer sustained a "serious" injury to his hamstring, according to the document.
One of those two officers fired at Sonsalla's vehicle. Two other officers also fired their weapons after seeing Sonsalla nearly run over their fellow officers, the affidavit says.
Sonsalla maneuvered around two parked patrol vehicles and was pursued by officers on South Sante Fe Drive. According to the affidavit, he was weaving in and out of traffic and ran several red lights. At one point, the document says, Sonsalla drove through a construction zone "flinging construction cones" and then drove south in the northbound lanes of Santa Fe Drive for about two miles.
The pursuit ended when Sonsalla ran a red light at West Mineral Avenue and caused a multivehicle crash. Sonsalla was taken into custody and indicated to the arresting officers that he had been shot.
Sonsalla was taken to the hospital for treatment and released a short time later. When interviewed, Sonsalla said he knew the men surrounding his car at the storage unit were officers but said he was "scared" and took off because he had warrants.
He facing charges of attempted murder of a peace officer and reckless driving.
His passenger, the woman police were initially trying to contact, declined to speak with detectives. It was unclear whether she was facing any charges.
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