DILLON - The Dillon Police Department's K-9 team was called on earlier this month to help look for an escaped prisoner in Grand County who is still missing.

Sgt. Wendy Kipple and Digger went to Grand County on Aug. 4 to help track down an illegal immigrant who had been arrested for shoplifting at the City Market in Granby, said Grand County Sheriff Rod Johnson.

The man was riding in the back of a patrol car to the jail in Hot Sulphur Springs when he kicked out the rear driver's side window, according to a release from the Dillon Police Department. He was then able to push himself through the window and fell head first onto Highway 40 while the deputy was driving 60 miles per hour. He then jumped up and ran off. The fire department, ambulance service and additional deputies were called in to help locate the man. After a two-hour unsuccessful foot search, the deputies decided to call in a dog to pick up a scent.

Johnson called Dillon for help because all three Grand County Search and Rescue dogs were in Rocky National Park searching for Ranger Jeff Christensen, who had been missing for several days.

"We called our guys and they said, 'We're way up in the park and we've been out here for 18 hours,'" Johnson recalled.

Digger sniffed the man's hat and the pavement where he fell, then continued down the highway about one mile before he picked up the man's scent. That's where Johnson believes the man was picked up.

"I think he's alive," Johnson said. "He's probably back in Mexico."



Nicole Formosa can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 229, or at nformosa@summitdaily.com.