Brighton – An Adams County sheriff’s deputy who loved riding motorcycles and playing video games with his youngest son died Tuesday morning, about 14 hours after being hit by a man suspected of drunken driving.
Jon Holiday was off-duty, riding home on his personal motorcycle, when the accident happened at about 7:30 p.m. Monday.
He was westbound on West 104th Avenue near Livingston Drive when a car turned left in front of him, Northglenn police officer Rick Kellogg said.
Holiday, 39, had been with the Sheriff’s Office about four years and had just been reassigned to patrol duties after working in the county jail.
He was thrilled, his stepfather, John Matula, said.
“If there was anybody who was destined to be a good cop, it was him,” Matula said. “He was just that kind of guy.”
Holiday had worked in several law-enforcement agencies in eastern Colorado before joining the Sheriff’s Office.
He had extensive experience working with drunken- driving suspects, his mother, Emily Holiday-Matula, said.
“He was an instructor for other patrol officers in the DUI department,” Holiday- Matula said. “And that’s how he got killed, by a drunk driver. … That’s pretty ironic.”
The man suspected of striking Holiday, 56-year-old Melvyn Saunders, has twice pleaded guilty to driving drunk, in 1999 and 2000. Both times, according to court records, Saunders plea-bargained charges of driving under the influence to lesser charges of driving while ability impaired, even though in his two arrests his blood-alcohol content exceeded 0.17 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
At the time of the arrests, the legal limit for driving under the influence was 0.1 percent, while the driving- while-ability-impaired limit was 0.05 percent.
In sentences for those two violations, Saunders paid a total of about $800 in fines and served five days in jail.
Saunders is being held on suspicion of vehicular homicide, driving under the influence and failure to yield.
Holiday-Matula said fellow deputies gathered with Holiday’s family Tuesday to share stories about Holiday, such as how he would ask them tough questions during DUI classes to get them to think.
“I thought that was pretty neat because that’s how he is,” she said.
She remembers a couple of times in recent years when she would leave town for a while, then would come home to find that she had a beautiful new rose garden or a re-landscaped front yard with gorgeous aspen trees, courtesy of her son.
“He had this heart you can’t believe,” Holiday- Matula said.
John Matula said Holiday was never shy about helping out.
“I’d call him my maintenance man,” Matula said. “If I had a problem, next thing I’d know, he’d show up with all of his buddies from the Sheriff’s Office … and they’d get it taken care of.”
Holiday’s mother and stepfather also recalled how much Holiday enjoyed spending time with his wife, two sons and daughter. Tuesday was Holiday’s eldest son’s 21st birthday, Holiday- Matula said. Holiday’s younger son is 7, and his daughter is 10.
He also is survived by his father and his sister.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
