Cheyenne Golf Pro Says Driver Tried To Run Him Down After Tearing Up Course

CHEYENNE — Branden Burbank still doesn’t know why the driver of the blue GMC pickup wanted to tear up the Cheyenne Country Club golf course — and try to run him down while doing it.

It was about 5 p.m. Monday evening and Burbank, the lead assistant golf pro for the course, had just noticed the pickup.

“I saw him driving around the parking lot, going over by the clubhouse, then he hopped the curb and made a hard right onto the golf course,” Burbank told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.

“I tried to stop him, to put my car in his path, because people were on the course at that time,” he said. “Then when he saw me, he revved up at me and made a run for me.”

Burbank said he definitely felt threatened and called 911.

Burbank added that he has no clue why the man, identified Tuesday by the Cheyenne Police Department as 49-year-old Denver resident Gust Martinez Jr., was at the golf course. He’s not a member and wasn’t golfing that day.

What Burbank, who has a background in law enforcement, said he does know is that the man wanted to cause damage and freaked the golf pro out.

“I have no clue what set him off, but all I was thinking was he wanted to hit me, do some damage, for sure,” he said. “And, he just had kind of a blank stare on his face. He didn’t seem upset or anything, just blank.”

While driving his 2010 blue GMC Sierra 1500 on the course, Martinez “drove through a bunker, over multiple greens, then tried to go through a gate, but didn’t get through it,” Burbank said.

When he noticed Burbank on his phone calling 911, Burbank said Martinez then sped up and crashed through a fence around the course and began what would become a slow-speed chase through Cheyenne’s historic downtown district.

“The next thing I know, he’s through the fence and onto I-25,” Burbank said.

‘Refused To Stop’

Martinez made his first appearance in Laramie County Circuit Court on a felony charge of property destruction and numerous misdemeanors relating to his slow-speed police pursuit, which began after crashing through the golf course fence.

Once Martinez was through the fence and onto Interstate 25, police picked up the chase, wrote CPD Officer Katie Federer in an affidavit of probable cause made available in the case Wednesday.

“Officers attempted to pull over the vehicle, and the (driver of the) vehicle refused to stop,” she wrote. “Officers initiated lights and sirens and followed the vehicle in the city limits of Cheyenne.”

Slow-Speed Chase

During the pursuit, which never broke the posted speed limits, Martinez allegedly drove through multiple stop signs and red lights, went the wrong way on one-way streets, and drove on the wrong side of the road, the affidavit says.

Multiple witnesses who saw the chase told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that the incident seemed surreal, like it was happening in slow motion.

Paige Leigh had just left work on Thomes Avenue at about 5:25 p.m. Monday and was approaching Carey Avenue from West 24th Street when she saw the dark blue pickup coming slowly down Carey.

Leigh watched the pickup continue another block or so before switching lanes and moving into the left lane. A block or two later, it turned left onto Central Avenue.

By then, Leigh estimated at least five police vehicles were following, with several others moving around surrounding blocks.

The pickup itself wasn't racing away.

“He was moving maybe 15-20 mph,” Leigh said.

“Before he switched lanes, I thought perhaps it was an older confused person or a medical emergency,” she said. “But as the driver continued, it was obviously not the case.”

Cheyenne resident Kendra Kelsch saw another portion of the pursuit from her home off West 24th Street.

Kelsch said it was around 5:30 p.m. when she began hearing sirens and noticed motorists pulling over.

Her youngest son was outside riding his scooter, so Kelsch went out to get him back into the yard.

That's when she saw the blue pickup coming down the street with what she described as “a whole slew” of police behind it.

“There was no speed about it, really,” Kelsch said.

Kelsch could hear officers using a loudspeaker, repeatedly telling the driver to pull over.

“He just kept going,” she said.

When Alan Christoffersen caught another part of the pursuit from his home along Snyder Avenue, he noticed something Burbank did — Martinez didn’t seem agitated or upset.

“He was just chilling back, sitting back in his truck in his seat, like an everyday driver,” Christoffersen said, adding that the driver didn't appear nervous.

“He looked kind of calm to me,” he said.

Grass Grows Back

When police finally got Martinez to stop at West 25^th Street and Pioneer Avenue, the Denver man “continued to actively resist and fight with officers,” the CPD reported Tuesday.

When they searched his GMC Sierra, the affidavit says that police found a sawed-off Ruger Impact Max Elite .22-caliber rifle, which he legally couldn’t have because of a 2022 assault-menacing conviction out of Brighton, Colorado.

When he learned about the rifle, Burbank said he’s even more relieved Martinez only drove around the course and didn’t try to shoot people.

“We were very blessed nobody was hurt and that it wasn’t very busy that day,” he said. “In fact, we’d been really busy all summer, but for some reason, not so much that day.”

The course was closed for “about a day and a half,” but is now open and playable, Burbank said.

“The good thing about grass is it’s a renewable resource,” he said.

If convicted of the felony property destruction charge, Martinez could get a maximum of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.