A child who died in a single-car rollover crash on I-70 near the Eisenhower Tunnel has been identified.
Four-year-old C.J. Pettus died when he was thrown from a car that ran off of the highway, hit a storm drain and then rolled two-and-one-half times before coming to a rest on its top. Five children and two adults, all from Fontana, Calif., were in the car that crashed.
Three children, including Pettus, were thrown from the vehicle. None of the children, ranging in ages from three to eight, were properly restrained, according to a Colorado State Patrol media release.
Pettus died at the scene.
The driver, Nathaniel Comeger, and a passenger, Cyisha Cook, both 22, were taken to Summit Medical Center with serious injuries.
The two children who were thrown from the wreckage and survived were flown by helicopter to Children’s Hospital in Aurora.
The two other surviving children, who were not thrown from the car, were initially taken to the Summit Medical Center and then transferred to Children’s Hospital.
All of the injuries were “serious,” the state patrol said. Further details on the their conditions were not available.
The crash remains under investigation. Drugs or alcohol are not suspected to have played a role.
The crash happened at about 8:05 p.m. on the west side of the tunnel in the westbound lanes.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
