The driver of a tow truck involved in a July 4 triple-fatal car wreck in Aurora has been issued a traffic summons and is scheduled for a court appearance.
Tow-truck driver Cynthia Charlebois, 30, faces Class 1 misdemeanor charges – three counts of careless driving resulting in death; and two counts of careless driving resulting in serious bodily injury.
If convicted on the misdemeanor charges, Charlebois faces six to 18 months in jail and a $500 to $5,000 fine, per count.
She also faces one count of failure to drive in a single lane, a traffic infraction.
Charlebois is scheduled to appear in Arapahoe County Court on Oct. 12.
Three of four family members, William O’Neil, 40, Karen Joy O’Neil, 43, and Trevor O’Neil, 4, died in the accident in the 1300 block of South Chambers Road.
One member of the O’Neil family, 2-year-old Tyler, survived.
GOLDEN
Son describes fight that led to dad’s death
Steven Fitzgerald swung his daughter’s scooter at Michael Tate, who wielded a shovel, as the two battled in the family’s garage, according to Fitzgerald’s son, Michael.
When the fight ended a few minutes later, Steven Fitzgerald lay dying on the floor. Michael Fitzgerald, who testified Thursday, said Tate hit his father in the face eight to 10 times.
“Dad was on his back, and I started seeing blood come out of his mouth,” said Michael Fitzgerald, who was 17 at the time.
Michael Fitzgerald, who was sentenced in March to 62 years in prison in connection with his father’s November 2004 murder, testified against Tate as part of a plea bargain.
Tate, who was 16 at the time, has been charged with first- degree murder. Prosecutors say Tate delivered the fatal blows.
The trial, which is expected to take three weeks, began Monday.
Online: More details from Thursday’s testimony.
AURORA
No charges for driver who struck toddler
The driver of a pickup that hit and critically injured an Aurora toddler last week will not be charged, police said Thursday.
Blood-test results show that the man’s blood-alcohol level was under 0.05 percent, which is the state’s standard for driving while impaired, Aurora police Lt. Troy Edwards said in a statement. Police had ordered the blood tests after smelling alcohol on the man after the accident. The man, 43, had admitted to drinking.
But Edwards said that because of the test results – and because police do not consider the driver to have caused the accident – the man, whose name has not been released, will not be charged.
The accident happened Aug. 16, when a 2-year-old boy crossed East Kentucky Avenue following his father and was hit by the pickup. The boy’s father had crossed the street to speak to someone and wasn’t aware his son had followed him.
A bystander performed CPR on the child, who was then taken to The Children’s Hospital in critical condition. He was later transferred to Denver Health Medical Center. His current condition is not clear.
BOULDER
Solar-flare detectors designed for satellites
The University of Colorado at Boulder signed a $92 million contract Thursday to build a satellite instrument to help forecast solar disturbances.
The university signed the contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The instrument package, which will be designed and built at CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, is slated to launch on future generations of NOAA satellites, according to a university news release.
The contract calls for the delivery of the first instrument package in 2012 and options for three additional packages over the subsequent decade.
The first scheduled launch is for 2014.
WATKINS
Two more churches closed to pilgrims
Pilgrims from the Mission of St. Isidore the Farmer in Watkins will find two more Catholic church doors closed to them during their two-day, 48-mile trek to the mountaintop Mother Cabrini Shrine near Morrison.
The pastors of the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and Holy Ghost Church late Wednesday asked pilgrimage coordinators not to have the breakaway Catholic group stop inside those two downtown Denver churches today.
Since 2002, the group making the Thanksgiving trek, part of a traditionalist Catholic movement at odds with papal authority, has not been allowed to celebrate Mass at their destination, the Cabrini-founded shrine to Jesus that overlooks Interstate 70.
Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput has declined to give permission to St. Isidore members for Mass at the shrine because “they’re not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church or the Archdiocese of Denver,” spokeswoman Jeanette DeMelo said Thursday.
Online: More about the controversial pilgrimage.
GREELEY
Antelope playing with dog taken by DOW
A friendly young antelope found cavorting with a dog along a walking path was probably picked up illegally in Wyoming and may be too tame to return to the wild, wildlife authorities say.
A Greeley family believed to have brought the animal to Colorado could face charges that carry fines and jail time, said Larry Rogstad, a district officer for the state Division of Wildlife.
The animal, dubbed “Poudre” by passers-by, was taken to a wildlife refuge, where handlers will try to get it ready to return to its natural habitat.
But Rogstad said that may not work because the animal “is totally imprinted now.”
TELLURIDE
Painting stolen off opera house wall
Someone stole a painting off the wall of the Telluride Opera House.
The painting, by Jeannette Le Grue, was just inside the Gallery Room, so it wasn’t a hard theft to pull off, The Daily Planet reports.
Le Grue had brought the painting to Telluride in early July as part of an art festival and left it with the gallery.
