Contributed Photo/Courtesy GCSO: Raymone Aragon was hospitalized after allegedly running through a San Carlos Police Department roadblock in a stolen Chevrolet truck.
Truck possibly involved in fatal hit-and-run
By Jon Johnson
BYLAS – A man suspected of stealing a Bowman Consulting work truck was taken to a Scottsdale hospital after being apprehended by the San Carlos Police Department (SCPD) early Sunday morning. He is also the suspect in a fatal hit-and-run in Bylas.
Raymone Damien Aragon, 19, reportedly blew through a police roadblock on U.S. Highway 70 in Bylas. The San Carlos Police and Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) had blocked the highway due to a fatal motor vehicle collision involving a pedestrian. A San Carlos Police officer reported that Aragon broke through the blockage at a high rate of speed. Officers then pursued Aragon, who was in a white, 2012 Chevy Silverado stolen from Bowan Consulting.
After Aragon refused to yield to pursuing law enforcement, the SCPD utilized spike strips to disable the truck, which then crashed into a wash. Aragon reportedly fled on foot for roughly a half-mile before being caught by SCPD officers. He was handed over to the custody of the DPS and was taken to a hospital in Scottsdale. The truck was transported to a DPS impound lot in Phoenix.
A DPS trooper allegedly advised the Safford Police that they are investigating the possibility of the stolen truck being involved in the fatal hit-and-run that closed down the highway. No other information was available.
According to Safford Police reports, an officer initially saw what is believed to have been the stolen truck westbound on U.S. Highway 70 in Safford at about 5:31 a.m. speeding at 60 mph in a 35-mph zone. The officer attempted to initiate a traffic stop on the truck, but instead, it accelerated.
The Safford officer pursued the truck as it reached speeds of up to 110 mph as it fled through Thatcher. The officer reported the truck narrowly avoided striking another vehicle as it ran through a red light at the intersection with Reay Lane and the officer believed the driver to possibly be impaired. The stolen truck then went into the eastbound lanes while traveling westbound before re-entering the westbound lanes. A Safford Police sergeant advised the officer to terminate the pursuit for safety reasons as the officer approached the intersection with Webster Road in Central. Roughly a half-hour later, radio traffic advised of a fatal collision involving a pedestrian in Bylas.
Later that same morning, at about 9:52 a.m., a Safford officer was dispatched to Bowman Consulting at 305 E. 4th St. regarding a missing 2012 Chevrolet Silverado and it was positively identified as the stolen truck disabled by SCPD. The truck was left inside a locked fence with the keys inside the center console at the premises, but the fence was knocked down – apparently by the truck driving through it.
Aragon was previously booked into the jail Feb. 15 on a misdemeanor shoplifting warrant after he was treated at Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center for a bullet wound he advised he suffered while in the Phoenix area. He currently is wanted on two separate shoplifting counts.