Hesperus – A pickup slammed into a car parked beside a southwestern Colorado highway, killing three teenagers and pushing the car into a man who was talking with a sheriff’s deputy nearby, authorities said.
The Colorado State Patrol said a Ford F350 pickup was southbound on U.S. 140 about 20 miles north of the New Mexico border just before midnight Saturday when it left the road and struck an Isuzu Trooper that was parked in a driveway.
The three teens were killed and an 11-year-old were injured when they were thrown from the Isuzu, the patrol said.
A La Plata County sheriff’s deputy who had stopped to investigate why the Isuzu and another vehicle were parked beside the road was talking to two men when the collision occurred. One of the men was struck and injured, but the deputy and the other man were not hit.
The impact sent the Isuzu skidding 130 feet and the pickup rolled and came to a rest 145 feet away, injuring the driver and a passenger, the patrol said.
The patrol identified one of the dead as Larry Michael Romero, 18, of Durango. The names of the other teens who were killed, a 16-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, both from Bayfield, were not released because they were juveniles.
The injured 11-year-old was taken to The Chidren’s Hospital in Denver with serious injuries, authorities said. His name and the nature of his injuries were not released.
Matthew C. Goodson, 33, of Hesperus, who was struck by the Isuzu, was taken to Denver Health Medical Center with unspecified injuries. It was not immediately clear if he had been in the second vehicle parked near the Isuzu.
Eugene J. Chavez, 25, who was driving the pickup, and passenger William A. Mckibben, 29, both of Albuquerque, were treated and released at a Durango hospital.
The sheriff’s department refused to release the deputy’s name.
The patrol said alcohol and drugs were not considered factors in the crash.
