Traffic stop may have saved a life

Friday, July 19, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Michael Vincent Colin was arrested Wednesday by Trooper Don Rose following a report from a highway work crew that a vehicle had gone through the construction zone at a high speed.

Rose stopped the vehicle on State Route 225 about 15 miles north of Elko and noticed it bore two different Oregon license plates. A computer check indicated the car was stolen.

Rose arrested the driver, Miguel V. Colin, 60, then ran a check on passenger Michael Colin, 38, that showed he was wanted on a kidnapping warrant, Trooper Jeff Leathley said on Thursday in Reno.

Michael Colin's ex-wife, Sandra Maxwell, 37, and the couple's three children were found in the vehicle. The semiconscious woman was taken to a hospital in serious condition with head injuries and the children were placed in protective custody.

Witnesses told police Colin beat Maxwell before taking her with him Tuesday night.

Their 3-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 9 and 15, were not harmed.

"Trooper Rose may very well have saved this woman's life by making this very routine traffic stop," Leathley said. "The stop went without anyone being injured although the possibility certainly existed for a very different scenario since a loaded 9 mm pistol was located in the vehicle."

Colin, of Beaverton, Ore., has legal custody of the boys, but could be charged with kidnapping or custodial interference in connection with the daughter, according to Beaverton police spokesman Mark Hyde.

Witnesses told police that Colin entered Maxwell's Beaverton apartment while she was not at home and assaulted the woman's female roommate with his hands, feet and a taser gun -- a weapon that delivers an electrical shock.

She was hospitalized in fair condition.

Witnesses said Colin threatened his ex-wife and a co-worker with a handgun when they entered the apartment and bound the co-worker with duct tape.

Beaverton police went to Elko on Thursday to follow up on the case, Leathley said.