COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — A day after four first responders were hit by a driver suspected of DUI on Interstate 76 – leaving one of them seriously injured – several agencies joined in giving a message on drunken driving: "It has to stop now."
The crash happened about 9:10 p.m. Thursday on I-76 near Sable Boulevard in Commerce City. Commerce City Police Department officers and South Adams County firefighters were outside their vehicles investigating a separate, single-vehicle crash in the westbound lanes when they were hit.
A firetruck was blocking both westbound lanes for traffic control and allowing cars to pass on the right shoulder. The driver of a Toyota Tacoma drove around the firetruck on the left shoulder, reentered the roadway and hit the officers and firefighters, who were in the left lane near a patrol car, according to CSP.
The driver continued on before coming to a stop on the left shoulder. He was taken into custody and booked into the Adams County jail. On Friday, the suspect was identified as Benjamin Winters, 24, of Brighton.
Colorado State Patrol (CSP) said that one firefighter was taken to the hospital with serious injuries and was undergoing surgery Friday. The other firefighter and the officers were transported and treated. One of the officers who had moderate injuries was still hospitalized on Friday.
"It's getting beyond believable how many DUI crashes we're having that are not only hurting our public, but now we have our emergency personnel who can't even do their job without getting hit by somebody that has decided to drive drunk," said CSP Master Trooper Gary Cutler at Friday's news conference.
In 2022, CSP covered 251 DUI crashes in Adams County alone, Cutler said.
"We need the public's help. We need people to start taking responsibility on this," he said. "This cannot continue the way it's been going."
He said that anyone who's been drinking cannot get behind the wheel and that an "entire community" is affected when someone is hit by a drunken driver.
"It needs to stop now," he said.
That message that repeated by South Adams County Fire Chief Ken Koger, Commerce City Police communications officer Joanna Small and Commerce City's city manager, Jason Rogers.
Koger became emotional while talking about the injured firefighters, saying this is the first time he's dealt with such injuries within his department. The seriously injured firefighter is married and has a young child, he said.
"It's taxing. It's brutal," he said. "We are a brotherhood."
One of the injured firefighters is a seven-year veteran of the department, and the other is a four-year veteran, Koger said.
The Commerce City officer who's still hospitalized is 30 years old and has been with the department for two years. The other injured officer is 33 years old and has been with the department for five years, Small said.
> Watch the full news conference below:
Winters was being held in the Adams County jail on suspicion of vehicular assault - DUI. His bail was set at $10,000, according to jail records.
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