Man Gets 16 Years For Ramming Douglas Co. Sheriff's Cars

CENTENNIAL, CO – A man who led police on a high-speed chase and rammed a patrol car, injuring a Douglas County sheriff's deputy. was sentenced Friday.

Joshua Kane Soto, 32, was sentenced by Douglas County District Court Judge Shay Whitaker to 16 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in August to first-degree assault, threatening a police officer with a weapon and vehicular eluding, the Douglas County District Attorney's Office said Monday.

Soto was out on bond in a felony case and officers made contact with him Dec. 27, 2018 after his GPS ankle shackle had stopped working. On that day, he had sped away in a rented car.

On the evening of Dec. 28, 2017, Soto, driving a Chrysler Sebring, led police on a high speed pursuit that started just south of Littleton near Lucent Boulevard and Plaza Drive, an arrest affidavit said.

Soto sped away from deputies, who pursued him onto northbound Interstate 25. Soto turned around at Arapahoe Road, heading southbound on I-25 back toward Douglas County. When a marked patrol car tried to stop Soto, he drove the Sebring across several lanes of traffic and rammed the patrol car into a barrier, the DA's office said. Then Soto backed up, drove forward and rammed the deputy's car a second time.

The deputy in the vehicle injured his ankle and required stitches to a cut on his forehead.

The chase continued on I-25 and westbound County Line Road. Officers estimated that Soto reached speeds of 85 mph in a 45 mph zone, according to the arrest affidavit. Soto and a female passenger were finally taken into custody when officers chased his car onto a dead end near Mercury and Saturn Drives.

Soto “put himself, his passenger, other drivers and myself in an extremely dangerous situation,” the deputy told the judge in a statement read during sentencing. “This job is inherently dangerous and a profession I elected to take on and thoroughly love to do. With that said, when unforeseen injuries due to selfish, reckless and dangerous people impact others around me, the impact is hard to define.”

“This was a defendant who was going to do whatever he had to to get away from law enforcement,” Deputy District Attorney Zoe Laird told the judge in asking for a sentence of 16 to 20 years in prison, according to a press release. “Even after the defendant is able to speed away (after ramming the deputy), that’s not the end of Soto’s actions. He continues to speed down I-25. This defendant was continually putting officers and the community in danger.”

During sentencing, Judge Whitaker called Soto "a threat to the officers and to this community.”

Whitaker also sentenced Soto to six years in prison for the Dec. 27 vehicular eluding, also to be served concurrently, the DA's office said.

Image via 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office

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