A 28-year-old Lakewood man faces possible murder charges after he struck a person he had been quarreling with early this morning at a bar.
Joel Vargas-Ramirez is being held for investigation of first-degree murder following the fatal crash on the 5400 block of West Alameda Avenue, said Sheridan Foster, spokeswoman for the Lakewood Police Department.
He was at a bar inside El Jalisciense II Mexican Restaurant when a dispute broke out around 1 a.m., Foster said.
“There were several individuals who were arguing in the bar and it spilled out into the parking lot,” she said.
Vargas-Ramirez jumped into his F-350 Ford pickup truck and was driving out of the parking lot when he slammed into the victim, who was rushed to a hospital and later pronounced dead, she said.
“He did take off,” Foster said.
Lakewood police tracked Vargas-Ramirez down and arrested him. He is currently being held in the Jefferson County Jail, Foster said.
He is also being held as an habitual traffic offender, she said. The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office will make final charging decisions, she said.
Authorities have not released the name of the victim.
Vargas-Ramirez has been arrested on suspicion of several drinking and traffic offenses dating back to 2000, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.
In 2000, a Colorado State Patrol trooper arrested him on suspicion of drunken driving and driving without a license, according to CBI records. Troopers arrested him again in Adams County in 2003 on suspicion of drunken driving. In 2006, he was cited for careless driving.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
