The Aurora Police Department made a mistake when its officers allowed the city fire chief’s wife to go home with her husband after she was involved in a hit-and-run accident, a prosecutor said Friday during a court hearing.
“I think this would have been something else but for her being the fire chief’s wife,” said Chris Opfer, a deputy district attorney for the 18th Judicial District. “She got a break.”
Opfer described the Aurora Police Department as one of the finest in the nation. But he said the hit-and-run accident involving Adriene Garcia “may not be their shining moment.”
Opfer’s comments came during a sentencing hearing for Adriene Garcia, who offered a tearful apology to the family whose car she struck and whose son suffered a broken jaw in the accident.
Aurora Fire Chief Mike Garcia also spoke during the hearing, vowing that he never would compromise his integrity by trying to influence an investigation.
Judge Frederick Martinez will decide Adriene Garcia’s sentence April 3 for vehicular assault.
He questioned Opfer’s assertion that the fire chief’s wife had been given favorable treatment at the scene, asking for evidence to prove it.
But Opfer insisted that the lack of a blood test was a shortcoming in the case and hindered the prosecution. He rattled off a list of medications Adriene Garcia had been prescribed, saying she was on 13 that caused some form of impairment.
Opfer said at least one police body camera recorded some events at the scene, including one officer saying he did not smell alcohol. The footage also captured another officer saying Adriene Garcia must be “overmedicated.”
However, the body cameras were turned off during that discussion among officers, Opfer said. The camera was turned on to record them giving her a ticket.
In May, Garcia slammed her Nissan Pathfinder into the back of a Hyundai that was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of East Yale Avenue and South Peoria Street.
Police found her about 20 minutes after the crash and about 4½ miles from where the accident happened.
She had called her husband, who called police.
Mike Garcia told the judge that he stood to the side and allowed the officers to work without his interference.
“I would never compromise my position or my department or the city of Aurora by asking for special treatment,” he said. “As for the police department, they would not compromise their integrity to give anyone special favors.”
Adriene Garcia, her husband and her attorney Danny Foster said she had suffered from two traumatic brain injuries in her life that had caused her to be disabled.
The impact of the crash caused a cognitive episode that led her to drive away, Foster said.
Adriene Garcia said she was confused and does not remember very much about what happened.
She has not driven since the accident.
She cried as she explained how sorry she was for injuring a child and causing his family pain.
“I would not intentionally hurt anybody, especially a child,” she said.
She asked for forgiveness from the child’s family, who did not attend the hearing.
“I’ve found it very difficult to forgive myself,” Adriene Garcia said.
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or
