A 24-year-old man was charged with first degree assault and taken to the Boulder County Jail Friday after he struck a Boulder County Open Space Park Ranger with his car and drove off. The suspect has been identified as Gregory Noriega. The park ranger was transported to the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries and released later in the day.
The ranger was patrolling the Rabbit Mountain Open Space about 7:20 a.m. Friday when he observed a male party with his dog off-leash, which is a rule violation, according to a Boulder County news release.
The ranger contacted the suspect and told him he was going to receive a citation for the offense, and the suspect became uncooperative at that time, the news release states.
The suspect asked if he could sit in his car because he felt he was having an “asthma” issue. The ranger let the suspect into his car and was behind the suspect’s vehicle to obtain the vehicle’s license plate when the suspect put the car in reverse and “gunned” the engine, striking the ranger and injuring him with the vehicle, the news release said.
After the vehicle struck the ranger, the suspect drove off causing the ranger to jump out of the suspect’s way to avoid being run over.
The suspect drove off nearly causing an accident at Colo. 66 and North 53rd Street where he was stopped by Boulder County deputies. A high-risk traffic stop was attempted but the suspect was not cooperating and was charged with first-degree assault and taken to the Boulder County Jail, according to the news release.
