Police have recommended a laundry list of charges that could net the 15-year-old driver suspected in the death of a Greeley 9-year-old more than a decade in jail.
The Weld County district attorney’s office must decide whether it will charge the boy as an adult in the hit-and-run accident, and what charges, if any, it will level against him, by Tuesday.
Police are withholding the name of the boy because of his age. He is accused of running over Jasmine Hernandez and her cousin, Ibeth Rodriguez, 9, on a quiet residential street in East Greeley on Monday.
Hernandez was killed, and Rodriguez, who was taken to Children’s Hospital in Denver, is in good condition, said hospital spokeswoman Elizabeth Whitehead.
Greeley police are recommending that the boy be charged with hit and run involving death, hit and run involving serious bodily injury, vehicular assault, criminally negligent homicide and vehicular homicide — all felonies — and four traffic offenses, said Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych.
“When we placed him in Platte Valley (Youth Detention Center), we talked with the DA’s office and discussed what we thought were appropriate charges with them. They will look at them and decide whether they are upgraded or downgraded,” Tymkowych said.
Hernandez, who was a fourth-grader at East Memorial Elementary School, and Rodriguez, a fourth-grader at Madison Elementary, were crossing the street when they were hit.
Witnesses said the motorist in the fatal accident was driving erratically, apparently showing off for a pair of teenage girls walking nearby.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
