GEORGETOWN — A case of ski rage erupted at Arapahoe Basin when a man accidently snow boarded into a woman skier and was attacked by her boyfriend.
In a two- page report on the Sunday incident, a Summit County deputy said the unidentified 17-year-old man slid into Joy Murren while snowboarding down the Lenawee Runaway Ski face.
The man, whose name is blacked out of the report, helped Murren to her feet and asked if she was OK. She said yes and told him it would be OK if he left.
Frank Robert Furlott, 42 of Loveland, who identified himself as Murren’s boyfriend, began yelling and threw the boarder to the ground, hitting him in the face and neck with his ski poles.
The report stated: “(The victim) said he asked Furlott to stop, to which Furlott replied, ‘I will kill you, I will stab this pole through your heart.’
When another snowboarder approached to help, Furlott “told him he would kill him as well,” according to the report. The second snow boarder backed off and waited for the ski patrol to arrive.
Furlott was taken to the Summit County Jail and charged with second-degree assault and felony menacing.
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.
