The husband of fallen Colorado state trooper Jaimie Jursevics has filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against who drunkenly killed her and the Denver bar that allegedly served him alcohol while he was already visibly intoxicated.
Lawyers filed the lawsuit last month in Douglas County District Court on behalf of Didzis Jursevics and his baby daughter seeking unspecified damages for grief, loss of companionship, impairment of quality of life and emotional pain in the past and future.
The lawsuit also claims economic damages, including loss of earnings and benefits.
Eric Henderson, 52, was to eight years in prison in the crash to vehicular homicide while driving under the influence and tampering with physical evidence, both felonies.
On Nov. 15, 2015, Henderson killed Jursevics as she tried to wave him over to the side of Interstate 25 near Castle Rock following citizen reports that he was driving drunk. After the collision, prosecutors say Henderson tried to hide evidence, including bottles, after he exited the interstate after the crash and drove away on a side road.
Henderson had spent the day drinking at a Broncos game in Denver before the collision. District Attorney George Brauchler said at Henderson’s sentencing that the retired Army officer’s blood-alcohol content was estimated at 0.199 percent at the time of the crash, nearly four times the legal impaired limit of .05 for drivers in Colorado. At .08 drivers are considered legally drunk.
Henderson was still legally drunk more than five hours after the wreck.
“I killed a cop,” Henderson told detectives through tears after he was arrested in the case, according to an arrest affidavit.
Jursevics, 33, who joined the Colorado State Patrol in January 2011 and began working at the agency’s Castle Rock office in 2014, is survived by her husband and daughter, Morgan, who was 8 months old when her mother died.
The lawsuit contends that while already drunk after the Broncos’ game, Henderson and a friend went to Brooklyn’s Bar near Sports Authority Field at Mile High for more drinks.
“While at Brooklyn’s, Defendant Henderson was willfully and knowingly sold or served alcoholic beverages by Brooklyn’s employees while he was visibly intoxicated,” says the suit, filed Oct. 25. “Defendant Henderson ultimately left Brooklyn’s and drove southbound on I-25.”
A message left for managers at Brooklyn’s on Thursday afternoon was not immediately returned.
Henderson is being held at the Sterling Correctional Facility, records from the Colorado Department of Corrections show.
Henderson said at sentencing he did not know he had hit Jursevics when he kept driving after the collision. But District Judge Richard Caschette said he didn’t find those claims truthful.
Henderson specifically addressed Jursevics’ husband during the sentencing, turning around to face him in the gallery.
“My soul breaks for you, sir,” Henderson said through sobs. “And if I could trade places with your wife, I would.”
Henderson’s attorney was not immediately available Thursday for comment.
