Valentine's Day crash in Niwot leads to arrest

Late in the afternoon of Feb. 14, a high-speed chase ended with a two-car collision on Niwot Road near the Niwot High School football field.

Multiple reports were made on social media of a vehicle speeding east on Niwot Road across the Diagonal Highway, followed by Boulder County Sheriff's officers and Colorado State Patrol vehicles on Valentine's Day, ending in a collision near Niwot High School. The crash resulted in the speeding vehicle rolling onto its top and crashing into the chain link fence surrounding the NHS football field where soccer students were practicing.

Longmont police reported that earlier in the afternoon they attempted to pull the vehicle over in Longmont near 15th Street and Kimbark, but the driver led police on a high-speed chase north toward Highway 66, reaching speeds in excess of 75 mph on Alpine Street, before police stopped their pursuit due to the danger to pedestrians and other vehicles.

The driver reportedly then headed south through Hygiene at a high rate of speed, narrowly missing several vehicles as 75th Street curves into 73rd Street. Melanie Sidwell reported on the Nifty Niwot Facebook page, "The driver drove into oncoming traffic (my lane) to try to evade the cops on 75th at the top of the hill as it S-curves to 73rd Street toward Niwot Road, causing me and another driver to zip off the the side to avoid a collision. From there the driver turned east on Niwot Road, followed by several law enforcement vehicles before it clipped another vehicle on Niwot Road near Audubon Road in the Morton Heights subdivision, causing the rollover."

Niwot resident Janet Gates, responded to the social media post, saying, "When he flew by me (in the oncoming lane) heading east on Niwot Road by Cottonwood Square, there were seven to eight cops in close pursuit. I watched in horror as he zigzagged at extremely high speed between the cars driving. Shortly after that I heard fire trucks/ambulance sirens. I'm so grateful that after all the extremely high speeds straight through towns and by schools, that no one was killed."

The Colorado State Patrol reported that one person was injured and taken to the hospital. There were two occupants in the vehicle that rolled over. The driver, identified by law enforcement as Tyler Eggers, was arrested and charged with vehicular eluding, violation of a protection order, among other charges.

Law enforcement reported that Eggers had several outstanding warrants for his arrest. Court records show previous open cases in Weld County (assault and two protection order violations), Larimer County (theft), Adams County (forgery) and Boulder County (theft) in addition to new charges in Boulder County on Feb. 5 and Feb. 15 (public peace and order). Bond was set at $10,000 on the new charges.