DENVER -- A man who crashed a pickup truck while pulling a stolen front-end loader, died Thursday, according to Commerce City police.

Toby Cordova, 33, died at Denver Health Medical Center, but his cause of death wasn't released.

Police are waiting for autopsy results to determine if Cordova died from the crash or from being shot by police.

A Commerce City officer opened fire on the pickup because he believed Cordova was trying to hit him, police said. The officer was attempting to put "stop sticks" on the road ahead of Cordova, in an attempt to puncture the tires on his pickup truck.

Police began chasing the pickup near Heartland Drive and East 104th Avenue and continued onto Interstate 76. Police were putting the stop sticks near East 136th Avenue when Cordova drove toward them. That's when a police officer fired at the truck.

The truck went across the road, crossing a field, and smashed into a tree at the Barr Lake campground.

The front-end loader had been stolen from a construction site in the Reunion area, police said. The owner of the tractor estimated its value at $45,000.

The incident was being investigated by the Adams County Critical Incident Team, which looks into all police-related shootings.