The family of an 11-year-old Thornton girl killed in a car crash Saturday night recalled that she “always wore a seat belt.”
The Colorado State Patrol said Celina Lucero was not wearing a seat belt and was thrown from the family’s 2007 Ford Expedition. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
“We were on our way to my mother-in-law’s house,” said Lee Madrid, 40, Lucero’s stepfather. He was driving the Expedition and received minor injuries in the crash.
The State Patrol said that Celina wasn’t wearing a seat belt, but the family isn’t sure of that. “She was obsessive — she always wore a seat belt,” Madrid said Sunday.
All five of the others in the blue Expedition wore seat belts, Madrid and the patrol agreed.
The accident happened about 6 p.m. Saturday as Madrid was driving the Expedition north on Interstate 25 in Weld County.
A 2003 Subaru Outback was in the lane next to the Expedition and swerved to avoid a bumper in the roadway.
“They swerved, hit the bumper, went in the other lane and hit” the Expedition, said State Patrol Trooper Gilbert Mares.
The Expedition spun counter- clockwise and rolled once, coming to rest on its wheels on the side of the interstate. The Subaru went off the right side of the road and stopped.
The Subaru’s driver, Matthew Parsons, 22, of Laramie, wasn’t injured. His passenger, Louise Parsons, 23, of Laramie, also was uninjured. Both were wearing seat belts.
Madrid was taken to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette.
Elizabeth Madrid, 38, of Thornton sustained minor injuries and also was taken to Good Samaritan.
Miranda Madrid, 1, and Jalyne Denton, 2, both of Thornton, were uninjured.
Lisa Campos, 38, unknown address, sustained moderate injuries and was taken to Longmont United Hospital.
Neither alcohol, drugs nor speed are suspected of playing a part in the accident, the State Patrol said.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
