GEORGETOWN, Colo.—A man accused of hitting a teen who collided with his girlfriend on a ski run at Arapahoe Basin faces charges of second-degree assault and felony menacing.
Frank Furlott, 42, of Loveland was skiing with his girlfriend Sunday when the 17-year-old snowboarder collided with her, according to a report from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
The boy asked the woman if she was OK, helped her to her feet and asked if it was all right for him to leave, the report said. The woman and the teen both said she said yes, the report said.
The teen said Furlott, who was about 75 feet below where the accident happened, began yelling at him to come over as the teen was going back down the trail, the report said.
As the teen approached Furlott, the report said, Furlott allegedly grabbed him around the neck, threw him to the ground and struck him several times with his ski poles. Furlott also was accused of threatening to stab the pole through the boy’s heart.
Reached at his home, Furlott called the snowboarder “reckless.” Furlott said allegations that he beat the boy with his ski pole were not true, and that his girlfriend was injured in the crash. He did not immediately know the extent of her injuries.
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Paulette Horr said the teen did what he was supposed to after an on-mountain collision. The teen was not identified because he is a juvenile.
“The big message to get out is to make sure the other person is OK and wait for ski patrol to arrive. He didn’t do that, but she said she was OK,” Horr said.
Under the state Ski Safety Act, skiers involved in collisions that injure another person should not leave the scene before giving their names and addresses to a ski patrol member, unless the person is leaving to get help.
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Information from: Summit Daily News,
