A survivor of a pair of early-morning crashes that killed three good Samaritans said a weaving driver may have triggered the first accident before leaving the scene unscathed.
Aurora police on Sunday declined to discuss their theories about the accident that occurred at about 4 a.m. Saturday. But Jesse Sanchez, who lost his pregnant fiancée in the accident, said he heard from others at the scene that the first link in the chain was an unidentified driver who swerved while southbound on Interstate 225, causing the driver of an Isuzu Trooper to lose control while trying to evade that car.
Sanchez said the two women in the Trooper told him the unidentified driver appeared drunk and was weaving. Several motorists stopped to help the women, including Sanchez and his 22-year-old fiancée, Crissa Chavez of Lakewood; Joshua Tucker, 29, of Littleton; and Terry Oliver, 53, of Denver.
The four Samaritans were standing in the median helping the women when there was a horrible crashing sound, Sanchez said.
A northbound Ford Explorer, which police say was carrying two children, crashed into the back of a Dodge Neon that was parked behind the Trooper with its hazard lights on. The Explorer rolled into the median, striking Chavez, Tucker and Oliver.
Sanchez escaped injury but has to live with the trauma of watching the woman who was to be his wife die in front of him.
“She was breathing real slow and funny,” Sanchez said. “God took her early.”
Tucker and Oliver died instantly, Sanchez said. Oliver, a postal worker on his way to his job, was pinned underneath the Explorer.
Chavez died three hours later at Aurora Medical Center. Her pelvis was shattered, and one of her legs was severed, causing her to bleed to death, Sanchez said.
Five adults and two children riding in the two SUVs that rolled were taken to hospitals for treatment of their injuries. They are expected to survive, police said.
Oliver’s widow remembers that he would regularly help friends and strangers.
“He died the way he lived,” Eva Oliver said of her husband.
She said Terry Oliver helped friends with their computers and gardens and had just begun planning to landscape the grounds at In His Presence Christian Center in Aurora.
“He’s not going to have a chance to finish that,” she said, resignation heavy in her voice.
“He didn’t know these people he stopped to help,” said Oliver’s sister-in-law, Linda Byrd. “He only knew they needed help. That’s all he needed to know.”
Oliver helped Byrd a decade earlier when she was having a hard time living in north Texas. Oliver got her a job at the post office where he worked, she recalled through tears Sunday.
When she moved from an apartment to her first house recently, he began showing up unannounced to mow and landscape her lawn.
“He said, ‘I’m proud of you, and I want your yard to be beautiful,”‘ Byrd said.
Sitting next to her at the dining-room table, Oliver’s stepson, Chris Owens, tried to dry his eyes with the sleeve of his T-shirt.
“He was my dad,” said Owens, who was 17 when his mother married Oliver.
“He told me you have to do whatever you have to do to take care of your family,” said Owens, the father of three. “You have to make sacrifices for other people.”
Oliver had adopted stepniece Tohana Jones even before he became a member of the family.
She was a young mother in college who attended his church. Oliver made her progress in college his constant concern, instilling in her to never quit trying to improve herself.
“I had a habit of apologizing for everything,” Jones remembered. “He told me not to be sorry for things that weren’t my fault, things in my head from growing up.”
Jones introduced her reluctant aunt to Oliver. She arranged a ruse, so they would meet at church; they were married within months.
“He was such a sweet man,” Jones said. “Everybody he met loved him.”
Similarly, Josh Tucker was the kind of guy who wouldn’t think twice about putting himself in danger to help others, said his friend and former roommate Martin Ruybal.
“He would risk his life to help somebody out,” Ruybal said. “That’s what he did.”
Ruybal said Tucker was driving home early Saturday after having attended a friend’s going-away party.
Tucker and Ruybal met while they were waiting tables at a restaurant and became fast friends.
Tucker had most recently worked selling hot tubs, Ruybal said, and was an avid student of ninpo, the martial-arts discipline used by ninjas.
Tucker adored his daughter, who is about 8 or 9 years old, Ruybal said.
“He was devoted to his daughter even though she lived out of state,” Ruybal said. “He loved her to death.”
Ruybal said Tucker’s daughter had plans to visit him in Colorado for about a month this summer.
Tucker is also survived by his mother and an uncle who live in Arizona, Ruybal said.
“He enjoyed life,” Ruybal said. “He was a happy guy, that’s for sure. He was never depressed.”
Police declined to release the names of those injured in the accident.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-820-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
