OURAY COUNTY — A Colorado State Patrol trooper died while off duty Sunday when his motorcycle struck a deer about a mile north of Ridgway.
Mark Dold, 49, of Durango was northbound on U.S. 550 when a herd of deer entered the road in front of him. He tried to avoid them but lost control of his Honda motorcycle when it struck one of them, Master Trooper Ron Watkins said.
Dold was thrown off the motorcycle, and his body slammed into a large fencepost, killing him instantly, Watkins said. He was wearing a helmet and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dold is the second trooper to die as a traffic fatality in the past week.
Trooper Zachariah Templeton, 27, died after he and another trooper were struck by a truck while standing on the Interstate 76 median in the Commerce City area Thursday. Funeral arrangements were still pending Sunday for Templeton, Watkins said.
Dold is survived by his parents, wife, two sons and a daughter, Watkins said.
Manny Gonzales, The Denver Post
Injured trooper in serious condition after surgery
A Colorado State Patrol trooper remained hospitalized in serious condition Sunday after he was injured and his partner was killed when they were struck by a truck while helping a motorist near Commerce City.
Trooper Scott Hinshaw, 38, was recovering after surgery at Denver Health Medical Center, Master Trooper Ron Watkins said Sunday.
Hinshaw and Trooper Zachariah Templeton, 27, were standing on the Interstate 76 median near East 96th Avenue helping the motorist Thursday when they were struck by a truck, investigators have said.
Neither the 17-year-old truck driver nor a 16-year-old passenger was injured, authorities said.
The accident remains under investigation. No charges have been filed.
Aurora Police arrest supect in shooting death
AURORA — Police have arrested a man suspected in an early-morning homicide.
Just before 4 a.m. Sunday, a 911 caller reported a shooting near East Jewell Avenue and South Flanders Street.
Police responding to the scene found a man dead with a gunshot wound to his upper body.
Both the suspect and victim were from out of town, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective H. Stowell at 303-739-6079.
Woman hit on I-25 while looking at her vehicle
LONE TREE — A woman was seriously injured late Sunday when she was struck by a vehicle on Interstate 25 in the south metro area, police said.
The woman, whose identity was unavailable, was northbound on I-25 just after 9 p.m. when her vehicle struck the center barrier, Lone Tree police Sgt. Ryan Gallegos said.
As she pulled off to inspect the damage, she was struck by another northbound vehicle, Gallegos said.
She was rushed to Littleton Adventist Hospital, where her condition was unavailable, police said.
Heart problem caused Colorado officer’s death in Africa
GRAND JUNCTION — An autopsy shows the death of a Mesa County sheriff’s sergeant on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania was due to complications from an enlarged heart, Sheriff Stan Hilkey said.
Earlier it was believed Sgt. Jason Lhotka died Oct. 4 of a pulmonary embolism, which occurs when a blood clot in the extremities travels to the lungs.
Family, friends and sheriff’s deputies mourned Lhotka, 37, at a gathering Saturday morning.
For the past four years, Lhotka and his mother, Sandra Menefee, had gone on annual backpacking trips.
This year, it was to Mount Kilimanjaro.
“We were having so much fun,” Menefee remembered. On the third day of the climb, “Jason said, ‘Where you wanna go next year?’ I said, ‘Let’s get through this one first.”‘
La Plata DA faces drugged-driving charges
DURANGO — La Plata County District Attorney Craig Westberg was arrested last week on suspicion of driving under the influence of sleeping pills.
The arrest Wednesday was his third in 30 years on suspicion of driving under the influence. He has publicly said he had a drinking problem in the 1970s.
Westberg said no alcohol was involved in the most recent case. He said he had taken a sleeping pill and didn’t realize how it would affect his driving.
