In more than 25 years of police work in Colorado, Steve Davis said he has seen lots of weird vehicles on Colorado highways – airplanes, tanks and even small boats. But never a boat the size of one that ran aground on Interstate 25 on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s just a sight you don’t expect,” said Davis, a retired Lochbuie police chief and Denver police officer.
A runaway boat skidded hundreds of feet on I-25 in “moderate to heavy” traffic before coming to a stop near the Longmont exit about noon, he said.
Details of the accident weren’t available because there was no crash and no injuries, said Trooper Gilbert Mares, a Colorado State Patrol spokesman.
A trailer carrying the boat detached from the car and the boat slid off, Mares said.
The retired police chief said he spoke to the driver of the car, who was heading to Larimer County with his family for the Fourth of July and bought the boat three days ago.
Davis said cars in front of him braked and swerved to avoid the trifecta of northbound contraptions – the car continuing straight, the trailer careening left and smashing into the median, the boat sliding to a rest on the right of the road.
“I can’t believe it didn’t hit any other vehicles,” Davis said. “The driver (of the car) still had a sense of humor.”
Staff writer Vimal Patel can be reached at 303-954-1638 or vpatel@denverpost.com.
