A Lakewood man with six prior drunken-driving convictions was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder after police say he rear-ended a car stopped at a red light in Lakewood late last month, plowing it into an intersection and leading to the death of the 25-year-old driver of the car he hit.
Todd Kenneth Grudznske, 47, was charged in Jefferson County District Court with 15 counts, most of them felonies, including the first-degree murder — extreme indifference charge, according to the district attorney’s office.
“Staff thought long and hard over the extreme-indifference statute,” said Pam Russell, a DA’s spokeswoman.
Prosecutors believe the Sept. 30 fatal crash, in which Grudznske is also charged with a fourth-offense DUI, a felony, demonstrates that the defendant acted with “complete and total disregard for the safety of others,” Russell said.
The crash happened at about 12:45 p.m. in Lakewood at the intersection of Kipling Street and West Colfax Avenue, killing Angela Wimmer.
At the time of the crash, Grudznske was forbidden by a judge in a domestic violence case from drinking alcohol. In August of 2017, Grudznske pleaded guilty in Jefferson County to two counts of domestic violence, misdemeanor crimes against a person. He was sentenced to two years probation.
Additional felony charges filed Wednesday against Grudznske include:
- 3 counts of second-degree murder
- Vehicular homicide – DUI
- First-degree assault
- 3 counts of attempted first-degree assault
- Vehicular homicide – reckless
He also faces a misdemeanor charge of violation of a protection order, two reckless driving traffic counts and two sentence enhancer crime-of-violence counts, according to the district attorney’s office.
On the day of the crash, Wimmer, who was driving a gray Mazda, was taken to a local hospital, where she died of her injuries. Grudznske was driving a GMC pickup truck.
All six of Grudznske’s prior DUI cases were between 2000 and 2007, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. In a 2001 case in Jefferson County, Grudznske was sentenced to 60 days in jail. In a 2002 case, also in Jefferson County, he was sentenced to 120 days in jail.
In 2015, the state legislature enacted a law making a fourth DUI, and any beyond that, a felony in Colorado. This latest case is the first time Grudznske was eligible to be charged with a felony DUI in Colorado.
Grudznske is being held without bond at the Jefferson County jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Nov. 1.
