A boulder crashed through the roof of an SUV west of Denver Monday, sending the driver of the vehicle to the hospital with minor injuries a day after a similar incident south of Carbondale killed an 11-month-old boy.
The name of the driver in Monday’s incident was not released, but it forced the temporary closure of U.S. 6 between Golden and Idaho Springs, Colorado State Patrol spokesman Trooper Eric Wynn said.
Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacey Stegman said a 20-inch boulder, about the size of a beach ball, came tumbling down the canyon, hit the highway, bounced and hit the SUV.
The driver was the sole occupant.
U.S. 6 is a popular route for people heading up to the gambling towns of Black Hawk and Central City.
On Sunday afternoon, a rock about the size of a brick rolled down a hillside and crashed through the windshield of a moving vehicle, striking 11-month-old Logan C.W. Cervantes in the head, according to the Pitkin County sheriff’s office.
The incident happened Sunday afternoon 20 miles south of Carbondale. Logan was rushed to Valley View Hospital, where a short time later he was declared dead as a result of his head injury, Pitkin County Sheriff’s officials said.
Authorities were notified about 4:40 p.m. that a rock about 7 inches long and 4 inches wide crashed through the window of a moving car on Colorado 133 and struck the child.
A passing motorist helped transport Logan to the Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District’s Redstone station, where rescue workers provided first aid.
No one else was injured in the incident, authorities said.
Stegman said single rocks breaking off and tumbling down to highways through the Rocky Mountains is not unusual during the freeze-thaw cycle of spring and fall.
‘You start to see a shifting in the rocks when those temperatures change,” Stegman said.
Highs in the mountains Monday were in the 40s.
From The Associated Press and The Denver Post
