The Colorado State Patrol is investigating a single-vehicle crash on Interstate 70 in Garfield County Friday night that left a 15-year-old passenger dead and the 17-year-old driver seriously injured.
The county coroner’s office identified the boy killed in the crash as Ricardo Gomez, according to a news release Tuesday. Officials say he was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle, a 2005 Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck, in the wreck.
The state patrol said it was called out to the wreck in the eastbound lanes of the interstate in Rifle at about 11 p.m.
Authorities say the 17-year-old driver was behind the wheel when the vehicle veered from the left side of the road and traveled into the depressed center median.
“As the vehicle traveled through the median it began to rotate,” the release said. “The vehicle then rolled 1 ½ times and the unrestrained passenger was ejected. The passenger sustained fatal injuries from the crash.”
The state patrol says the driver was wearing his seatbelt and sustained serious injuries.
Officials declined to release the driver’s name, saying his identity may be released upon charges being filed against him in the wreck.
The state patrol did not release further information in the wreck, including any possible cause or what precipitated the fatal crash.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or
