Alleged impaired driver arrested after striking officers following Chaffee County pursuit
Chaffee County deputies arrested a man after he led deputies on a short pursuit and later struck a deputy and a Salida police officer late Friday evening.
A deputy attempted to pull over the car Sanford Gardner, 37, of Salida, was driving erratically on Colorado 291, but the car did not stop, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office on Monday.
A short pursuit led the deputy and a Salida police officer, who arrived to assist, to a residence on Happy Jack Lane. Once stopped, Gardner attempted to run away from the officers and ended up striking them while resisting arrest, the release stated.
The officers suffered minor injuries, and Gardner also had minor injuries and was taken to the hospital. The release stated Gardner was then transported to the Chaffee County Detention Facility and held on $5,000 bond.
Gardner was charged with:
- Second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer
- Resisting arrest
- Driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both
- Reckless driving
- Failure to drive in a single lane
- Operating a motor vehicle with defective tail lamps





