Six-car wreck sends SUV into South Platte; 6 injured
A six-car collision in south Denver on Thursday afternoon sent a vehicle plunging into the South Platte River and sent six people to the hospital in serious condition.
Just after 2 p.m., a blue Ford pickup failed to stop as it exited Interstate 25 at West Alameda Avenue, authorities said.
The pickup ran into several cars at high speed, caught on fire and slammed into the back of a Dodge Durango, said Denver Fire Department spokesman Phil Champagne.
“It, in essence, created a chain reaction,” Champagne said. “Once it gets into play, you can’t stop it.”
The Durango was sent into the river, and the pickup came to a stop in the middle of the intersection.
All six people who were taken to the hospital – including the drivers of the pickup and the Durango – were adults, Champagne said. Four others were treated at the scene.
Investigators don’t know why the driver of the pickup lost control of his vehicle, Champagne said.
A group of firefighters was already at the scene when the accident took place, treating an intoxicated homeless man.
The firefighters would have been struck by the runaway cars, except they were shielded by a sport utility vehicle stopped at a red light that also got tangled up in the collision, said firefighter Kurt Salley.
WESTMINSTER
7 arrested, stolen cars found in police raid
Seven people were arrested and some stolen cars in various stages of being disassembled were found when officers from Westminster police and the Denver Metro Auto Theft Team raided a warehouse near 3200 W. 71st Ave. on Thursday, Westminster Investigator Tim Read said.
“Inside the warehouse, detectives found up to seven stolen cars and vehicle component parts,” Read said. “The vehicles were being stripped and dismantled, with parts cast about on the shop floor.”
The raid at 4:15 p.m. Thursday was the result of an investigation that took several months.
Six men and a woman were arrested at the scene and taken to Westminster police headquarters on suspicion of theft by receiving, motor-vehicle theft and tampering with vehicle identification numbers, Read said. Their names weren’t released Thursday.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Columbine memorial raises $95,000 more
About $95,000 was raised on or around the day of the groundbreaking last week for the Columbine memorial.
The amount includes former President Clinton’s pledge to match a $50,000 challenge grant by the Raccoon Creek Golf Club, which is a few blocks north of the memorial site.
On July 10, construction of the long-awaited memorial is scheduled to begin, although fundraising is $265,000 short.
“We will move forward with the construction work as scheduled, a bit of a ‘step in faith,”‘ said Bob Easton, who is chairman of the memorial committee and runs the Foothills Park and Recreation District.
Before Clinton came to town last week, fundraising stood at $1.14 million – $360,000 short of the $1.5 million goal.
FORT COLLINS
Most CSU students to see 2.5% tuition hike
In-state, undergraduate students at Colorado State University will pay 2.5 percent more in tuition next year, under a budget approved Thursday by the school’s board of governors.
The tuition increase translates to about $42 a semester.
Resident graduate students will pay 15 percent more next year, or $279 a semester.
Out-of-state undergraduate and graduate students will pay an extra 4.5 percent.
At the Pueblo campus, in-state undergraduates will pay 2.5 percent, or $36, more per semester. Graduate and nonresident tuition will not increase.
CSU president Larry Penley said the passage of Referendum C made the “very modest” tuition increases possible.
AURORA
Body found in fire ID’d by fingerprints
The body of a woman found inside a burning apartment in Aurora this week was identified Thursday as 23-year-old Monet Turner.
Turner was reported missing by a relative a day before her body was found in the fire at her apartment complex, 832 S. Chambers Road.
Arapahoe County coroner Michael Doberson confirmed Turner’s identity through fingerprints.
He declined to reveal what caused her death because Aurora police are in the midst of a homicide investigation.
Aurora police Sgt. Rudy Herrera said this week that detectives are confident they will solve the case.
Hours after Monday night’s fire, Andrew C. Draper, 24, crashed Turner’s stolen Pontiac Sunfire in Weld County, and he has been questioned about her death. The relationship between Draper and Turner was not revealed by police.
BERTHOUD
Threatening e-mail to Salazar leads to arrest
The FBI arrested a Berthoud man at his home Thursday on a charge that he threatened to assault a federal official.
Joseph James King, 46, is accused of sending a threatening e-mail to U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the Colorado U.S. attorney’s office.
Dorschner declined to elaborate on the nature of the threat contained in the e-mail.
Drew Nannis, Salazar’s press secretary, said the senator’s office had passed along the e-mail to the FBI and U.S. Capitol Police because of the nature of the threats.
