The district attorney for Adams County has declined to file criminal charges against two deputies for their use of force against a man involved in an attempted carjacking on Interstate 25 last March.

Deputy James Graham pursued Dominick Perea and another man on 70th Avenue in a March 23 incident when he saw them driving at high speed, and the car crashed into a roadway barrier on the exit to southbound I-25, according to a decision letter from District Attorney Brian Mason.

The men fled on foot in the northbound lanes of the highway, and Graham chased the men on foot along with a Denver police officer. The officers saw the men try to stop vehicles and open the doors, eventually getting into a Subaru. The driver, a woman, screamed for help.

According to the letter, Graham struck Perea with his baton during a struggle to get him out of the car. Another responding deputy, Layne Paintin, struck Perea in the head after he had been removed from the vehicle and was resisting arrest, the letter says.

Perea received medical aid after his arrest.

The deputies were justified in their use of force given the threat Perea posed to others and his resistance to arrest, Mason wrote.

He was later charged with attempted kidnapping, attempted robbery, vehicular eluding and motor vehicle theft.

The man with Perea, Joseph Wiley, fled the scene and was later charged with possession of a weapon by a previous offender, possession of a defaced weapon and trespass.