Larry Dye has a request for the person who ran over his son and drove off, leaving the boy on a Commerce City street Tuesday with a skull fracture and other injuries:
“He needs to take responsibility for his actions. We all make mistakes, but step up,” Dye, 45, said Wednesday, as he spoke outside Children’s Hospital.
His son, D’Artagnan Alexander Dye, 13, is in a medically induced coma, his condition critical.
Dye, a large man with a sandy-colored pony tail jutting from the back of his Colorado Rockies baseball cap, had a message for Commerce City officials, too. The accident, on Oneida Street at E. 75th Avenue near state Highway 2, could have been avoided had the City Council taken steps to control traffic flow in the area, he said.
He and others in the neighborhood have gone to the Council and complained that vehicles race through the area, he said.
“I think it could have been avoided — we have been saying this was going to happen.”
Commerce City’s traffic unit hasn’t received any complaints about the streets, said Lt. Chuck Saunier, Commerce City police spokesman, who runs the unit.
And there is no record that Dye ever complained about the roads to the Council, said Ross Hilker, a Commerce City spokesman.
D’artagnan Dye was riding his bike with two friends at 4 p.m. when they crossed from E. 75th onto Oneida. He was struck by a white Ford F-150 that was southbound on Oneida.
The boy, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, rode in front of the truck, thinking it would slow down, Saunier said.
Police don’t believe the driver was speeding, he added.
The pickup stopped briefly then left without helping the boy, said Saunier.
The truck may have had front-end damage, he said.
“We need to find this driver.”
Tom McGhee: (303)954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
