Kris Mansfield, a senior airman in the Air Force, was killed by a drunken driver in Denver, weeks after his return from service in Iraq.
And Thursday, his memory was honored at the intersection of South Colorado Boulevard and East Ohio Avenue. There on Sept. 4, 2004, Denver lawyer Michael T. Miranda, 51, made a left turn into the 23- year-old Mansfield, who was riding his motorcycle south on Colorado from his job at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.
Miranda, according to investigators, was drunk and will be sentenced in Denver District Court for vehicular homicide. He could serve up to eight years in prison.
“He survived five to six months in a horrible environment in Iraq, and he was supposed to be safe here,” said Mansfield friend Adam Rozek.
Mansfield was remembered in many ways Thursday, including with a flock of 21 pure-white doves released over the site of the accident.
“He volunteered for Iraq because he thought it was his duty,” said his father, Craig Mansfield. “He wanted to go so married personnel wouldn’t have to go.”
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
