SUV-snowplow crash closes I-70 for 2 hours
A 20-year-old California man was flown by helicopter to St. Anthony Central Hospital after the sport utility vehicle he was in collided with a snowplow Saturday, officials say.
The Department of Transportation shut down westbound Interstate 70 for about two hours because of the accident, said Sgt. Jeff Goodwin of the Colorado State Patrol.
The accident happened just before 2 p.m. near mile marker 211 when a snowplow was turning from an inside lane onto the right shoulder, Goodwin said.
Police arrest murder suspect after standoff
Colorado Springs police arrested a 35-year-old murder suspect Saturday afternoon after a 4 1/2- hour standoff.
Raymond Eugene Munoz is accused of stabbing to death 33-year-old Ronald Bohnert, also of Colorado Springs.
Bohnert was found dead in his home Friday, in what Colorado Springs police say is that city’s first homicide this year.
A SWAT team used chemicals and “other diversionary devices” in an attempt to flush Munoz out of an apartment in the 100 block of East Ramona Avenue. According to police, he ultimately left the apartment on his own and was not injured.
Detectives are still looking for a second, unidentified suspect in Bohnert’s stabbing.
Anyone with information is asked to call 719-444-7501 or Crime Stoppers at 719-634- STOP.
Musgrave ranks high in House fundraising
U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave ranked among the top 10 U.S. House members for campaign funds raised in 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political spending.
Musgrave, a Republican from Fort Morgan, ranked 10th, raising nearly $1.6 million. Of that, Musgrave received $140,000 from political action committees, private groups that pool money from individual donors. She also received more than $31,000 from the real estate industry, $17,000 from the oil and gas industry, and $12,000 from the beer, wine and liquor trade.
Wal-Mart Stores, Outback Steakhouse and Denver-based Qwest Communications each gave her $5,000.
Her congressional seat is considered competitive heading into the November election.
Fund set up to help woman shot in face
A fund has been established at First Bank to pay for the medical care of a Denver woman who was shot in the face with a shotgun by her boyfriend on Christmas Eve, police said.
Donations can be made to the Martha Clark fund in care of the bank, police said.
The suspect, Thomas McBride, 50, was released on bond Jan. 20 and is expected to face charges of attempted first- degree murder, police said.
Police allege that McBride, without warning or provocation, shot off the right side of Clark’s face.
As Clark prayed, thinking she was dying, Denver police officer Eric Gray picked her up out of a pool of blood and carried her to an ambulance. He rode with her to the hospital, holding her hand and speaking to her when she faded toward unconsciousness. He asked her questions to build a criminal case, jotting the answers on a candy wrapper he found on the floor of the ambulance.
The Daniels Fund has contributed $10,000 toward reconstructive surgery for Clark.
Two undercover cops cleared in shooting
The actions of two Denver undercover narcotics detectives were justified when they shot a man in a Denver alley in the early evening hours of Jan. 2, Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey ruled Friday.
The two officers, Todd Gentry and Randy Parsons, were part of a team of officers engaged in a “buy-bust” operation in which an undercover officer attempts to buy drugs from a dealer.
The two officers drove to the 1400 block of a Pennsylvania- Pearl Street alley where they encountered two men, Frankie Brabo, 36, and Rudy Gallegos, 27. As they passed the men, Brabo yelled a challenge or a curse at the officers, and one of the two hit or slapped his hand on the trunk or back of the police car, Morrissey said.
After the police car stopped, Gallegos admitted, he reached into his waistband and pulled out a cellphone and used it to simulate a handgun. He also said he didn’t realize Gentry and Parsons were police officers.
The officers opened fire, hitting Brabo but not Gallegos, who was arrested almost immediately. Brabo returned to the scene later and said he had been shot.
Morrissey said that under the circumstances, the officers perceived an imminent threat. Although the individual struck was not the person who presented the threat, the two were together and, in light of how quickly the incident occurred, Morrissey said he couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that either detective acted recklessly or with criminal negligence.
Gallegos was charged with two counts of felony menacing; no criminal charges were filed against Brabo.
Soldier dies after explosion in Iraq
A soldier based at Fort Carson died after an improvised explosive device blew up near his M1 Abrams tank in Iraq, the military said.
Spec. Walter B. Howard II, 35, who grew up in Clinton Township, Mich., was married about two years ago and re-enlisted in the military last summer to help provide a steady income for his family, said his mother, Carolyn.
He and his wife have a 15-month-old daughter and now live on base at Fort Carson, family members said.
Howard died in Balad on Thursday of injuries sustained that day in the blast in Ashraf, the Defense Department said in a statement issued late Friday.
Howard was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.
