Three people died Monday morning in two separate crashes that shut down the westbound lanes of Interstate 70 on Colorado’s Eastern Plains.
Trooper Josh Lewis of the Colorado State Patrol said both crashes were called in after midnight and happened about two miles from one another.
In one of the crashes, one person was killed and another was taken to a hospital after a single-vehicle rollover at mile marker 316 near Byers.
The person taken to the hospital from that crash also died, said Trooper Nate Reid, a state patrol spokesman.
The vehicle that rolled was a red SUV. The cause of the double-fatal crash is under investigation.
Four vehicles were involved in the other crash, which occurred at mile marker 318.
Lewis said the most serious injuries in that crash were sustained by people in a Ford Mustang. One person in the Mustang, a passenger in the back seat, was killed. Another, the driver, received serious or critical injuries. Two children were also seriously injured.
The collision happened when the driver of a GMC pickup truck rear-ended the Mustang, Reid said.
A Chevrolet Tahoe SUV and a semi-truck were also involved in the collision.
The driver of the pickup truck, Tony Tice, 37, of Florida, has been charged with one count of careless driving resulting in death and six counts of careless driving resulting in injury, Reid said.
Three people in the Tahoe were injured, in addition to the people in the Mustang.
The injuries to people in the Tahoe were described as moderate to minor.
Westbound I-70 was closed between mile markers 322 and 316, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. It reopened shortly after 9 a.m.
The identities of the victims were not released.
