By Tillie Fong
The Rocky Mountain News
DENVER - A Denver police detective in pursuit of a robbery suspect ran into a car driven by a schoolteacher Wednesday, flipping her sedan and seriously injuring her.
Police said the woman was in serious condition at St. Anthony Central Hospital on Wednesday night with a fractured pelvis. The officer was not injured.
“They were attempting to keep sight of an armed robbery suspect,” said John White, spokesman for Denver police.
The woman’s name was not released by police, but neighbors said she is Edith Mack. According to the Web site of Jefferson County’s Molholm Elementary School, Mack has been a tutor in English as a second language for seven years.
The suspect, Manuel Santistevan, 26, was still at large Wednesday night.
Police have been searching for Santistevan, who is believed to be part of a group known as the “hooded safe bandits,” which has been responsible for more than 20 armed robberies in the Denver area.
The incident began at 3:40 p.m., when members of the Safe Streets Task Force were staking out a home in the 200 block of South Zenobia Street, where Santistevan and an unidentified woman were seen fleeing from the house in a white sedan, prompting officers to pursue them.
“When they were pursing the suspect, they were calling for marked units to assist them,” White said.
“During the time they were following or pursuing, there was an accident involving one of our undercover vehicles and a citizen.”
The accident happened at the intersection of Ninth Avenue and Gray Street in Lakewood.
Jacki Dickman, 32, who lives on the southeast corner of the intersection, heard the collision. “There was this screeching of tires and a hard crash,” she said. “I came out, and the officer was out of his truck.”
Dickman said she saw the black truck belonging to the officer pointed south. Another vehicle was upside down on the street, with the woman driver still inside.
“She was just hanging there,” Dickman said. The officer “went up to the car to help her.”
Dickman said she saw Denver police officers, members of the Safe Streets Task Force and Joan Chavez, principal of Molholm Elementary, at the scene soon after the accident.
Copyright 2007 The Rocky Mountain News