BRIGHTON, Colo.—One of two state troopers hit by a pickup truck while trying to help another driver on Interstate 76 died Friday.
Trooper Zachariah Templeton, 27, had been in critical condition since the accident Thursday afternoon. He died from his injuries at about 8 p.m., Colorado State Patrol spokesman Gil Mares said.
Additional details were not released. A 17-year-old driver who authorities said ran into Templeton and Trooper Scott Hinshaw, 38, has not been arrested and the accident remained under investigation, Mares said.
Hinshaw remained in serious condition at Denver Health Medical Center.
Templeton is survived by his 3-year-old daughter, Samantha, his mother and father Teresa and Doug Templeton, and his girlfriend Holly. He joined the patrol in 2003.
“Templeton was best described by fellow troopers and supervisors as an individual with a big heart and willingness to help others,” the State Patrol said in a statement. “It is that desire to serve which lead Templeton to respond to the call of a fellow officer.”
Both troopers were standing on the median helping a motorist reload one of two plastic farm chemical tanks that had fallen off of a flatbed trailer. That’s when investigators said the 17-year-old driving a Ford F-150 slammed on his brakes when he realized the traffic was stopped along the highway but then skidded and slid into the median, hitting the troopers.
The 17-year-old and his 16-year-old male passenger weren’t injured and neither alcohol nor drugs was suspected of contributing to the crash, the patrol said.
The driver pulling the trailer also wasn’t injured.
