An Arvada man took a deal and pleaded guilty this month in a fatal 2024 Aurora hit-and-run on Interstate 225, according to court records.
Arapahoe County District Court Judge Darren Louis Vahle sentenced Brian Vondersmith, 38, on Friday to 12 years in prison for leaving the scene of an accident involving death, court records show.
Vondersmith pleaded guilty to that charge, a felony, in a deal that dropped four additional charges from his case: manslaughter, reckless driving, first-degree assault with extreme indifference and vehicular homicide, according to court records.
Aurora police officers responded to the fatal I-225 crash near Sixth Avenue shortly before midnight on Oct. 20, 2024, .
Officers found a downed motorcyclist on the highway, identified by the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office as 38-year-old Matthew Bouchard of Aurora, police said. Bouchard died from his injuries before officers arrived.
Witnesses told investigators that Bouchard and Vondersmith appeared to be racing when Vondersmith swerved his pickup truck into Bouchard’s motorcycle, knocking the motorcyclist into a guardrail.
