LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — No charges will be filed against a sergeant with the Larimer County Sheriff's Office who shot and wounded a man following a pursuit on Interstate 25 near Mulberry Street, according to the district attorney's office.
The incident began just after 2 p.m. on Jan. 10 of this year after deputies were called to a suspicious man at the Family Dollar store located on 6th Street near Roosevelt Avenue in Wellington, according to a release from the sheriff's office.
>The video above aired on the day of the shooting last month.
The caller said the man, identified as Dustin Bartles, was inside the store making incoherent statements. Deputies arrived and tried to contact the man who was sitting in a pickup truck, a decision letter from the district attorney says. That letter goes on to say that the man was in the vehicle making "erratic movements" with his hands and body. When the deputy told him wanted to talk with him about concerns about his "state of mind," the man started the vehicle and put it into gear.
When the deputy told the man he was not free to go, the letter says the man cursed at the deputy and drove off.
During the pursuit, according to the letter, Bartles was speeding and at one point crossed into an oncoming traffic lane and drove directly toward two deputies, before veering off and coming within a few feet of hitting their vehicles.
Witnesses said they believed Bartles drove deliberately at the marked cars, according to the letter.
The chase lasted about 11 minutes and spanned 10 miles before it ended when stop sticks were used successfully on southbound I-25 near Mulberry Street just outside the Fort Collins city limits, deputies said.
Sgt. Jackie Stimac pulled over to assist and used her vehicle in a "pinch maneuver" in which she pulled up to the suspect's bumper to immobilize his vehicle, the letter says. The suspect did not stop which resulted in the vehicle's being door-to-door, the letter says. The suspect continued forward colliding with another deputy's vehicle and that's when Stimac shot twice through the vehicle toward the suspect.
Bartles was struck and taken to the hospital and was released two days later.
According to the decision letter, based on the acceleration of Bartle's vehicle and screaming by him, she feared the other deputy was at risk of being seriously hurt or killed.
Drug paraphernalia was later found in Bartle's truck and during the investigation, it was revealed that Bartles told staff at the hospital "I wanted them to kill me," the letter says.
It also says that Bartles told his girlfriend that "he would rather die by cops" instead of taking his own life.
The DA ultimately concluded that Stimac was justified and that if charges were to be filed that they likely could not be proven beyond a reasonable.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Latest from 9NEWS