Police have arrested a 23-year-old man who they say hit another car, injuring three people, as he sped along the winding, high mountain roads through Rocky Mountain National Park.
Wayde Thyfault, from Hudson, was taken into custody in the High Drive area outside of the national park, spokesperson Kyle Patterson said Monday morning.
Authorities began looking for Thyfault on Sunday afternoon after he entered through the Grand Lake entrance on the west side of the national park and started to speed past cars along U.S. 34 over the 48-miles stretch of mountain highway through the park, according to a news release from the park.
When park law enforcement rangers tried to pull him over, Thyfault kept driving, the park said, and because of his speed and reckless driving, the rangers stopped chasing him.
Thyfault sped past the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, where he hit another car with three people inside, the park said. All three occupants were brought to the hospital, one with critical injuries.
Thyfault then got out of his car, sans shirt or shoes, and ran toward homes along High Drive in Estes Park, the park said. Rangers and officers with the Estes Park police department and Larimer County Sheriff’s Office told residents to shelter in place.
Authorities believe Thyfault is also wanted in a felony burglary case out of Grand County that remains under investigation.