A teenage boy was killed and his girlfriend badly hurt after they fled police in a stolen car and crashed in rural Elbert County.
Nickolas James Parrilli, 17, of Littleton died after the stolen Ford Expedition he was driving struck spikes that police had set out and rolled about eight times Friday night, Colorado State Patrol Trooper Gilbert Mares reported.
The rolling sport utility vehicle hurled Parrilli from his seat but only partially ejected passenger Tara E. Chrisner, 17, of Elizabeth, and she remained pinned inside.
Rescue workers cut Chrisner from the wreckage and flew her to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, where she remained in critical condition Saturday.
“He never had any kind of past history of doing something like that,” said Parrilli’s father, Greg Parrilli, who described his son as big-hearted and fun-loving.
Attempts to reach the Chrisner family were unsuccessful.
The tragedy began at 6:35 p.m. Friday when an Elbert County woman reported her silver 2005 Expedition stolen by two people at the mail pickup station in the Sun Country Meadows subdivision.
Less than 10 minutes later, a deputy saw the stolen SUV run a stop sign. The deputy started a pursuit on County Road 13.
Elizabeth police set out the spikes almost a mile from Elizabeth High School. Traffic was heavy in the area because parents and students were arriving for a choir concert.
Alcohol and drugs are not considered contributing factors, Mares reported.
Nickolas Parrilli’s mother said her son had become troubled in recent years. The boy moved out of her place and in with his father last September. The couple is divorced.
“He was always trying to be cool,” Gayle Parrilli said, and she blames this trait for the car theft.
“He probably took it on a joyride because he thought it was cool,” she said.
Greg Parrilli described his son’s past brushes with the law as on the level of curfew violations.
He said his son’s education at Chatfield High School had shifted to an individual teacher-student program due to an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but the teen scored high on mechanical aptitude tests and hoped to become an auto mechanic.
The Parrillis said their son enjoyed playing guitar and riding his skateboard at skate parks.
He had met Chrisner two years ago and continued his interest in her after she moved to Elizabeth last year.
“They had a pretty deep relationship,” Greg Parrilli said.
“I would advise parents to love children every day and love them while they’re here,” he said. “Because you never know when they could leave.”
Staff writer Chuck Plunkett can be reached at 303-954-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com.
