A 17-year-old student at Cherry Creek Prep alternative school was killed in an early-morning traffic accident Sunday on East Smoky Hill Road in Centennial while his parents thought he was in bed asleep.
A westbound car driven by Christopher Michael Thielen of Arapahoe County crossed into oncoming traffic in the 17900 block of East Smoky Hill Road at about 1:55 a.m., hitting another car, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Thielen was pronounced dead at the scene.
Thielen’s parents told 9News on Sunday afternoon that their son had come home Saturday night about 11 p.m. and that they thought he had gone to bed.
They didn’t know he was gone until authorities knocked on the door to tell them about the crash, Mike Thielen said.
He added that his son didn’t own a car and was driving a friend’s car; they don’t know why he left the house.
The eastbound motorist he hit, a 38-year-old woman, was taken to Medical Center of Aurora South. She was in stable condition Sunday evening, Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.
A third car swerved to avoid hitting the first two cars and went through a fence on the south side of Smoky Hill Road, but the 48-year-old man driving wasn’t injured.
“There are a whole lot of things that could have happened, and that’s why we won’t speculate about what happened,” Robinson said about the cause of the accident.
A law went into effect over the summer dictating that drivers younger than 18 can’t be on the road for the first year between midnight and 5 a.m. unless they are with a parent or guardian. Exceptions can be made for school or work.
It was unclear how long Thielen had his license.
Two other 17-year-old boys, students at Smoky Hill High School, were killed in a traffic accident about 2 miles away on South Parker Road near East Temple Drive on Dec. 7.
Driver Michael Stillwagon was cited under another new law directed at teen drivers that forbids minors from having other teenage passengers in their car during the first six months of having a license. Police say the 16-year-old was distracted by his passengers.
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
