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A little over three months after he initially led police on a high speed chase through central Grand County local man Karl Kolb received his formal prison sentence.
On June 6 Karl Scott Kolb, 36, was sentenced to three years in the Colorado Department of Corrections by District Court Judge Mary Hoak. Kolb received credit for 103 days already served in custody. Kolb’s was sentenced following his conviction on one count of vehicular alluding.
Kolb’s conviction was related to incidents that occurred on US Highway 40 in central Grand County on Feb. 23 of this year. At around 4:30 p.m. on that day a deputy from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office spotted Kolb as Kolb was traveling eastbound on US 40 just outside of Hot Sulphur Springs. At the time of the incident there was an active warrant for Kolb’s arrest that was issued the previous day, on Feb. 22.
The deputy who spotted Kolb was aware of his active warrant and attempted to pull suspect over. Kolb then attempted to flee from authorities, reaching speeds in excess of 100 mph. Kolb continued to travel eastbound on US 40 towards Granby at high rates of speed, passing other vehicles in no-passing zones, according to court documents related to the case.
Authorities eventually suspended their high-speed pursuit of Kolb due to the unsafe road conditions at the time and Kolb’s reckless driving. They continued to pursue Kolb down US 40 at normal rates of speed. Not long afterwards authorities located Kolb’s vehicle abandoned in the ditch off the side of the road near milepost 208, roughly six miles from the place where the deputy had initially attempted to pull Kolb over.
Deputies on the scene quickly discovered Kolb had exited his vehicle and climbed up a nearby hillside before hiding behind a rock roughly 50 yards away. Authorities were concerned that Kolb was armed at the time and chose not to pursue Kolb on foot. Kolb informed authorities he had a knife and that he did not want to go back to jail.
Authorities continued to negotiate with Kolb in an effort to resolve the incident peacefully, eventually getting the suspect to descend from his hillside perch. At one point in time authorities gave Kolb his cellphone and attempted to apprehend him but Kolb placed the knife he was carrying to his wrist and again ascended the nearby hillside. During the exchange officers attempted unsuccessfully to subdue Kolb with 40 mm less-lethal impact rounds.
Officers continued to negotiate with Kolb and were eventually successful in convincing Kolb to throw away the knife he was carrying and to surrender peacefully to authorities.
Along with Kolb’s three-year prison sentence for his actions on Feb. 23 he was also sentenced to 18 months in the Colorado Department of Corrections on a separate case for criminal mischief. That case, which was unrelated to the incidents that happened on Feb. 23, involved incidents that occurred in Jan. 28.
Kolb’s 18-month prison sentence for criminal mischief will be served concurrently with his three-year sentence for vehicular alluding. After his sentences were handed down Kolb was remanded to the Grand County Jail to await transport to Department of Corrections facilities. He was transported out of Grand County on June 11.