BOULDER — State Trooper Clinton Rushing wants to return to light duty at the Colorado State Patrol early next year, essentially working a desk job as he continues to recover after being gravely injured in May while working a traffic accident.
But what Rushing really wants is to get back on the road.
“There’s something about getting in the car and driving on the highway,” Rushing said Friday in the hallway at Boulder District Court, where he came to watch a proceeding for the man prosecutors say nearly killed him.
Rushing was struck by a Honda Civic on Colorado 66 just shy of the Boulder/Weld County line May 23. Prosecutors say the driver, Christopher Gebers, was fleeing an unrelated traffic stop.
After hitting Rushing and hurling him through the air, prosecutors say the driver of the vehicle lost control and slammed into CSP Cadet Taylor Thyfault, killing him. Thyfault, 21, was posthumously promoted to trooper.
Rushing said he suffered “severe trauma” all over his body, but he is recovering with the help of “great doctors, nurses and physical therapists.”
“They put me back together and got me where I am,” he said. “I still have a long road ahead of me.”
Gebers, 27, is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and numerous other felony, misdemeanor and traffic charges in connection with the incident. He is being held without bond.
Gebers appeared in court Friday morning, after he filed his own motion to fire the public defenders office and retain the Office of Alternative Defense Counsel to represent him.
District Judge Maria Berkenkotter denied Gebers’ motion and ordered his arraignment to proceed in January.
Rushing said he doesn’t know when he will be able to return to wearing a uniform and patrolling Colorado highways again, but it is probably still years away, if ever.
“It depends on which doctor I ask,” he said.
He added that although he is recovering, he remains in a great deal of pain.
