A man accused of taking a stolen shuttle bus on a joyride down Interstate 70 in Colorado last month and trying to hit first responders was arrested Friday and charged with attempted murder, according to court records.
Jared Romelo Brooks, 30, faces eight felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder, second-degree motor vehicle theft, third-degree motor vehicle theft and vehicular eluding, according to court records.
Brooks was also charged with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor; reckless driving, a traffic charge; and theft, court records show.
The charges stem from an Oct. 10 incident where Brooks is accused of stealing a shuttle bus in Georgetown and fleeing from police on I-70, according to a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service.
Highway cameras captured Brooks swerving toward first responders, including two Idaho Springs police officers, assisting with an unrelated crash on the side of the road, according to the news release. Investigators believe Brooks swerved intentionally in an attempt to strike the group with the bus.
Body-worn camera video released in October by the Idaho Springs Police Department showed the bus speeding past stopped traffic on the shoulder, veering through the crash scene, hitting the police car and narrowly missing the police officers and EMTs before fleeing.
The bus was later found abandoned in Denver, police said.
Police used video from inside the stolen bus to identify Brooks as a suspect and issued a warrant for his arrest on Thursday, according to the U.S. Marshals.
Detectives from the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshals with the Colorado Violent Offender Task Force, along with local law enforcement agencies, arrested Brooks early Friday morning in Denver.
The task force included officers with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Colorado Department of Corrections, Englewood Police Department, Lakewood Police Department and Golden Police Department, federal officials said.
The team watched two addresses where Brooks was believed to be staying until the man was spotted walking out of a residence in the 1300 block of Osage Street shortly after noon Friday, according to the news release.
That’s when Brooks was taken into custody and the second address, in the 1200 block of Kalamath Street, was searched.
Police said Brooks had active felony warrants out of Denver for failure to appear on a larceny charge and out of Jefferson County for motor vehicle theft.
Brooks is being held on a $100,000 bail. His next court date was not yet available on Monday.
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