Summit County law enforcement used negotiations and pepper spray to end a four-hour standoff that started around 12:20 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, near the Ptarmigan Ranch neighborhood. 

A 45-year-old Lakewood woman was arrested on preliminary charges of felony menacing, felony trespass, felony alluding, resisting arrest, prohibited use of a weapon, driving under the influence and more, according to a post by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies say the woman brandished a handgun, fled law enforcement, hit a patrol vehicle and crashed into an irrigation ditch during the incident. 

Ptarmigan Ranch is a gated community north of Interstate 70 that is accessed through Dillon Valley, which is south of the interstate. 

“The deputies and officers on scene were ready for anything. They used their training, experience, and the technology and equipment available to them. Also, they relied on time, space, and patience,” Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons stated in a press release. “This call occurred in a remote, isolated area, on private property, which allowed them to slow things down significantly, which is not always possible.”

The incident began after a resident of Ptamigan Ranch reported that the woman was parked in front of their home and was seen loading a magazine of a handgun while making a shooting motion, “as though she was preparing to fire rounds toward the house,” according to the release. 

When deputies arrived, the woman refused to exit the vehicle and admitted to having a handgun before she fled the scene, hitting a patrol vehicle before driving off the road, through a fence and down a “steep horse pasture” and into a ditch, the release states. 

Officers from Dillon-Keystone, Silverthorne, Frisco and Breckenridge worked with deputies to set up a perimeter while members of the Systemwide Mental Assessment Response Team responded. 

Negotiations fell apart after several hours, with the woman refusing to exit the vehicle while telling negotiators she was smoking marijuana before cutting off contact, according to the release. The woman complied once law enforcement tossed an aerosol pepper spray canister into the vehicle. She placed a 9mm handgun, which was eventually found to be unloaded, onto the dashboard and complied with arrest.