Boulder County, Colo. -On July 16, 2021, at approximately 7:20 am, a Boulder County Open Space Park Ranger patrolling the Rabbit Mountain Open Space, in Boulder County observed a male party with their dog off-leash which is a rule violation. The Ranger contacted the suspect and informed him he was going to receive a citation for the offense, the suspect became verbally uncooperative at that time.

The suspect asked if he could sit in his car because he felt he was having an “asthma” issue. The Ranger accommodated the suspect and was behind the suspect’s vehicle to obtain the vehicle’s license plate when the suspect put the car in reverse and “gunned” the engine striking the Ranger and injuring him with the vehicle. After the vehicle struck the Ranger the suspect was continuing to drive off causing the Ranger to jump out of the suspect’s way to avoid being run over.

The suspect drove off nearly causing an accident at Highway 66 and North 53^rd Street where he was stopped by Boulder County Deputies. A High-Risk traffic stop was attempted but the suspect was not cooperating with commands and was subsequently taken into custody.

The suspect identified as 24-year-old Gregory Noriega was arrested and charged with First Degree Assault and was taken to the Boulder County Jail.

The Park Ranger was transported to the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries and released later in the day.

The associated case number for this incident is 21-3317

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/s/ Special Operations Commander Randy Wilber