GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.-
Two Mesa State students were thrown from a car and killed when they were rammed from behind by an SUV driven by a suspected drunken driver, the State Patrol said Friday.
Vern Brock identified the victims as his son, Jacob Dean Brock of Eagle, and his girlfriend, Jennifer Kois of Brighton, The Daily Sentinel reported. Both were 19.
“I would like to say that it wasn’t an accident. It was a deliberate sequence of actions that appears he clearly had opportunities to cease without killing innocent people,” Brock told The Sentinel.
“Jennifer and Jake were a special couple. Even though they dated just a short time, you could see the love they had for each other in their eyes. These were two special kids who enjoyed spending their time together, with friends and family. They will both be truly, truly missed,” said Kois’s family in a statement released to KUSA-TV in Denver.
State troopers were trying to pull over a Toyota 4Runner allegedly driven at more than 100 mph by Patrick Strawmatt, 42, of Westminster, at about 10 p.m. Thursday. The vehicle had been reported driving erratically on westbound Interstate 70 near Clifton, about 10 miles east of Grand Junction, said State Trooper Scott Simons.
The SUV sped up and crashed into a Saturn, and both vehicles veered off the highway and rolled, the State Patrol said. The victims, who were not wearing seat belts, were ejected from the Saturn. They were taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction where they were pronounced dead, the patrol said.
Strawmatt’s public defender, David Eisner, told a judge Friday that his client was a former Lafayette policeman and owner of a bail-bond business. He faces 14 charges, including first-degree murder, and was ordered held on $1 million bond.
Strawmatt suffered unspecified moderate injuries.
Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener told KUSA that Strawmatt attacked him when he was caught after a high-speed chase Feb. 15. The Park County district attorney charged Strawmatt with eluding police, second-degree assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, driving without a license and driving under the influence.
Strawmatt’s father, J.R. Strawmatt, told KUSA: “This is not my loving son I knew. He cared for kids and people. I don’t know what snapped. We are devastated by this. Our hearts are torn apart by what he has done.
“He used to be one of the best guys you’d ever know,” he said. “I want him locked up. I don’t want him to get out.”
