A Colorado man is facing attempted murder charges after allegedly ramming his pickup truck into a police station “in order to be heard.”
Nathan David Chacon, 45, is accused of intentionally plowing his 2007 Chevrolet Silverado into the lobby of the Grand Junction Police Department on Wednesday, the department said in a statement.
The incident was caught on both interior and exterior surveillance cameras.
Chacon is charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault in the first degree with extreme indifference, attempted vehicular homicide by reckless driving, vehicular assault while driving in a reckless manner, criminal mischief in the amount of more than $100,000 and less than $1 million, and reckless endangerment, according to police documents.
Seconds after coming to a stop inside the building, a police officer is seen approaching the truck, which Chacon exited with his hands up. Chacon quickly got down on the ground, apparently at the instruction of the police officer.
According to the affidavit for his arrest, Chacon indicated that to him, driving into the building was his only choice. He told police that earlier that day, he had started to leave the Grand Junction area “but realized he was ‘being followed’ by several cars,” according to the affidavit.
“Nathan advised he became paranoid of these vehicles and began making erratic turns and turning down side streets in order to avoid these vehicles,” the affidavit said, adding that Chacon said that he continued driving “in this fashion” to Grand Junction.
“He advised when he drove into the parking lot, he did not want to be killed, so he chose to drive into the lobby,” the affidavit says. “As Nathan told me this, he advised he knew it was dumb but he knew what he needed to do in order to be heard.”
The officer conducting the interview asked Chacon to clarify.
“I asked him if he knew the lobby was a public lobby and he knew it could have been occupied by people [redacted],” the affidavit says. “I asked if he knew that his actions could have killed or injured someone [redacted]. Finally, I asked if he had done this in order to generate a police response.”
Chacon had apparently called police dozens of times in recent years to report “strange happenings,” but he wasn’t satisfied with the response.
“Law enforcement records show there are at least 90 calls for service involving Nathan over the last few years where he is reporting strange happenings that have been unfounded,” the affidavit says. “Some of these calls for service in the recent days leading up to this event insinuate a pattern that Nathan was becoming frustrated with Deputies as he would hang up on them and swear at them over the phone.”
According to the police, Chacon remains behind bars.
Read the probable cause affidavit here.
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