Funeral services for Colorado State Trooper Zachariah Templeton will be held Friday in Longmont.
Templeton, 27, died Friday of injuries he received the day before when he was hit by a pickup truck on the median of Interstate 76 in Weld County. Templeton and fellow trooper Scott Hinshaw stopped to help a farmer secure two plastic agricultural tanks on his trailer.
A teenage driver drifted onto the median and hit the troopers. Hinshaw has been upgraded from serious to fair condition at Denver Health Medical Center.
Templeton’s service will be 10 a.m. Friday at the Lifebridge Christian Church, 10345 Ute Highway (Colorado 66) in Longmont.
Additional local news briefs:
Hiker OK after 2 nights lost
VAIL — A Missouri hiker found alive after spending two snowy nights in the mountains said Tuesday he was just glad to be alive.
Jacob Gately, 23, of Lee’s Summit was rescued Monday from the Holy Cross Wilderness.
“I wasn’t going to let the mountain have me,” he said Tuesday from a wheelchair during a news conference at Vail Valley Medical Center. “I’m just happy to be alive.”
He and his 24-year-old brother, Josh, were coming down from the summit of the 14,005-foot Mount of the Holy Cross when they became separated Saturday.
Jacob Gately was found two days later suffering from mild hypothermia, fatigue, an electrolyte imbalance and minor frostbite on his feet.
2 face extradition from N.M. on murder charge
Two men were charged Tuesday in the shooting death of a 29-year-old man, the Denver district attorney’s office said.
Eduardo Barboa-Espinoza, 30, and Ponciano Verduzco-Cervantes, 38, were both charged with first-degree murder in the death of Omar Yanez-Cervantes on Oct. 5, according to a news release. The shooting happened in the 4500 block of Josephine Street.
The suspects were arrested in New Mexico and face extradition, the release said.
Man charged in stabbing death after fight
A 27-year-old man was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the stabbing death of another man, the Denver district attorney’s office said Tuesday.
The charges allege that Landon Chavez stabbed Ricky Ortega, 29, during a fight on the 2800 block of Osceola Street on Oct. 6, a news release said. Ortega died of the injuries, authorities said. Chavez is being held without bond and is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.
Girl, 5, dies in apparent accident
MESA COUNTY — A 5-year-old girl died Tuesday in an apparent accident in rural Mesa County, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The unidentified girl was “on or playing around some type of large equipment” on her family’s property, said Heather Benjamin, a Mesa County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.
The death is under investigation.
Deputies responded to 10535 County Road 48 1/2, near the small town of Mesa, about 1:30 p.m., Benjamin said.
The Mesa County coroner’s office will perform an autopsy as part of the official investigation.
Preliminary reports from deputies at the scene indicated that the girl “appeared to be caught on or under a piece of large equipment,” Benjamin said.
