Accused of stealing a pickup and dragging its owner 30 feet by the truck’s door handle as he fled, a Lusk man was arrested and taken to the Laramie County Detention Center on suspicion of felony theft Monday.
A Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper arrested Simon Harley Kingma, 35 of Lusk, Monday after an alleged truck theft, according to a statement of probable cause accompanying Kingma’s jail booking sheet.
Wyoming Highway Patrol dispatch told Trooper Joseph Dellos that someone had stolen a two-tone green Dodge pickup with branches on its bed on Interstate 25 sout at milepost 13.9.
The driver had stopped briefly on the on-ramp to secure a load in the back of the truck. And as the driver went to get back into the truck, a man sat down in the driver’s seat of the vehicle and took off headed southbound, reads the statement.
Says People Trying To Kill Him
The original truck driver, now replaced by the alleged thief, held onto the passenger-side door handle during the takeoff and was dragged about 30 feet until the door handle broke off and the truck tore away from its original driver.
Dellos watched a truck by the same description head down I-25, and he followed it, stopping it with his lights and siren.
The truck came to a complete stop on the right shoulder of the road at about milepost 47.
Dellos and another trooper conducted a felony stop.
Kingma exited the vehicle and was cooperative while they handcuffed his hands behind his back, the statement says.
Dellos asked Kingma why he stole the truck
Kingma said he was trying to get away from people who were chasing and trying to kill him, according to the statement.
“At this time,” continues Dellos’ statement, “I observed multiple signs of self-harm, to include multiple cuts to his neck. The cuts were scabbed over and appeared to have been inflicted sometime prior to my interaction with Kingma.”
The troopers arrested Kingma on suspicion of felony theft, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
