'Here he comes'

The judge said she was amazed.

He said he was confused.

“What was that arrest warrant?” Andrew Ryan Young asked a judge Thursday during a video arraignment at the Mesa County Justice Center.

Judge Gretchen Larson told Young it was, in fact, a warrant: A 12-pager alleging 25 felonies related to Monday’s police chase turned crash and gun battle on Glade Park Road, which ended with the 28-year-old Young shot several times.

Larson set bond for the Colorado Springs resident at $800,000; he returns before Chief Judge David Bottger on Tuesday when the district attorney’s office will file formal charges.

The judge also included a special stipulation in a restraining order for Young: No driving.

“I’ve been to prison three times and I was trying to do right this time,” Young, both arms wrapped in a soft cast, told the judge. “I believe I was set up, but I can’t prove it. There was a firearm in the car, but it wasn’t in my possession.”

Young denied driving a car he knew was stolen.

“I can’t comprehend some things right now from being shot.”

Larson advised Young twice about his constitutional right to remain silent.

“The fact that someone wasn’t killed in this is amazing to me,” Larson said.

‘Run!’

An arrest affidavit released Thursday describes a chaotic scene on Glade Park Road shortly after 8 a.m. Monday: Investigators leaping from the path of a Honda Accord barreling down upwards of 55 mph.

The incident — who shot first, how many times and law enforcement’s handling of the situation — remains the focus of an investigation.

Mesa County’s Sheriff’s Investigator Jim Hebenstreit was leaving for work that morning.

According to the affidavit, he’d heard radio traffic about an armed man looking into vehicles in the area of 16 1/2 Road — Hebenstreit started driving that way.

Grand Junction Detective John Baker, a resident of the Monument area, was headed to work too. He was contacted by Grand Junction Detective Greg Assenmacher about the same incident.

While driving, Baker reportedly heard on the radio that sheriff’s deputies were pursuing a man eastbound on Rim Rock Road.



Hebenstreit, Baker and Assenmacher met at the Glade Park Store and a decision was made to stop traffic on Glade Park Road.

“Detective Baker had previous knowledge of the area’s residents, and was aware of the school bus heading to school, and residents in the area heading to work in the near future,” the affidavit reads.

Baker eventually encountered a Ford pickup driving north on Glade Park Road, roughly one mile south of the intersection with Glade Park Road and Rim Rock Road.

Baker stopped in the northbound lane to block the truck.

Assenmacher parked behind Baker — Hebenstreit pulled up just to the right of Assenmacher.

That Ford truck was driven by Glade Park Road resident Jerry Livingston, who was told to turn around. Three plain-clothed detectives were standing just outside their unmarked cars.

“Livingston rolled his window down to speak with Detective Baker, when he heard someone say “here he comes.”

“He then heard an unknown person say, ‘Run!’”

A red Honda Accord was coming — running from pursuing sheriff’s deputies.

“As the Honda was about to strike the police cars Livingston lay across the front seat of his truck because he thought the crash would cause a vehicle to hit his truck and kill him.”

Baker and Hebenstreit jumped into a roadside ditch.

“Assenmacher stated the suspect vehicle did not brake, or slow down. He saw the suspect vehicle hit his car on a glancing blow. This caused his car to start moving toward him.”

Assenmacher stepped back.

“As he did so he fell down a 10-foot sloping embankment off the side of the road.”

Shots

Young allegedly refused verbal commands to get out — the wrecked Honda was now surrounded by at least eight plain-clothed or uniformed officers. A “less-than lethal” gas round was fired at the Honda, but failed to penetrate the driver-side window. A second gas round did break it.

“The driver did not comply and began pointing a black handgun out the window. As the driver pointed the gun he moved in a waving motion at all the officers (and Livingston)...”

Who fired first?

The affidavit isn’t clear.

In one section of the document, Young is said to have fired once — at least two officers described seeing “the action of the gun move and smoke come from the front of the gun.”

Other officers at the same scene noted Young repeatedly waived the gun out the window, but their statements don’t specify seeing or hearing gunshots. Those two officers indicated that Young eventually pointed his semi-auto handgun at them, they feared for their lives — and fired.

A shot Young was pulled from the scene and transported to St. Mary’s Hospital.

“Once at the hospital, Investigator (Beverly) Jarrell was with the male suspect when he told the medical staff that he had used methamphetamines earlier in the day,” the affidavit reads.

The registered owner of the Honda, Lori Dunn of Boulder, told investigators she and Young had been in a relationship. Dunn said she and Young spent most of the day together on Nov. 11 — two days before the incidents in Grand Junction.

“Dunn had parked her car in a metered parking spot (in Boulder) late afternoon on Nov. 11 .... Young told Dunn that he would put more money in the meter ... Young left the residence and Dunn has not seen him or her car since.”