A snowboarder suspected of having been drinking collided with an 8-year-old girl on Vail Mountain on Saturday afternoon, injuring the girl and leading to a fight with the girl’s father, Eagle County sheriff’s deputies said.
The snowboarder – identified as Christopher Dunsmore, 22, of Arizona – hit the girl shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday near Tower 4 on Vail Mountain, deputies said.
The girl, Zoya Petrovska, was taken to Vail Valley Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries, including a split lip and bruises.
The girl’s father – Kiril Petrovski, 56, of Edwards – said he was skiing about 8 feet behind his daughter when he saw Dunsmore coming fast on a snowboard. Dunsmore told deputies he saw the girl cutting across the slope as he came over a hill, couldn’t stop and “took her out.”
Dunsmore admitted drinking alcohol that day, but he refused to take a breath test, deputies said.
As Petrovski described the incident Sunday night, he stopped to control his tears.
“He just plowed into my little girl in front of me,” he said. “She flew in the air about 5 or 6 feet and then fell down.”
Dunsmore stopped to make sure the girl was all right, and Petrovski confronted him.
“He tried to escape, and I hit him once so he could stay.” Petrovski said. “I could smell alcohol.”
Dunsmore told deputies Petrovski hit him twice in the face.
Dunsmore left the scene. Authorities later found him at Garfinkels, a bar at the base of the mountain, where he was arrested. A deputy described him as “extremely remorseful and sorry for what had happened.”
Dunsmore was arrested on suspicion of skiing while impaired by alcohol and leaving the scene of an accident, both petty violations of the state’s Ski Safety Act. He was booked and released on $100 bond, deputies said.
Both men were issued a summons for third-degree assault. Petrovski said he’s willing to take his lumps when he goes to court.
“Whatever they have to do. I had to do what I had to do,” Petrovski said. “Who knows what is going to happen to more people if he is not apprehended?”
