COMMERCE CITY, Colo — The man who struck and killed a 16-year-old girl as she crossed a street near an elementary school in April pleaded guilty Friday morning and was immediately sentenced to 10 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Brandon Monroe was arrested more than a month after the April 11 crash that killed Karalynn Kincaid. He was charged with three counts including leaving the scene of a crash involving death, vehicular homicide - reckless driving, and vehicular homicide - DUI.
During a hearing Friday morning in Adams County District Court, he pleaded guilty to the vehicular homicide - DUI charge and the other charges were dismissed. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by three years of parole once he's released.
Karalynn was crossing at the intersection of East 76th Avenue and Leyden Lane in unincorporated Adams County near Commerce City around 7:45 p.m. April 11 when she was struck, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
That is just outside Monaco Elementary School and near Dupont Elementary School. Cameras from both schools captured images of the crash or the immediate aftermath, according to an arrest affidavit from CSP.
Those videos and images helped investigators determine what type of vehicle was involved, which ultimately led them to identify Monroe as a suspect.
Investigators later learned from an anonymous tip that Monroe and his wife had left for a "preplanned" family event on April 12, the day after the crash.
While in Ohio, the tipper said, she overheard Monroe tell someone else that he had been "drunk or high" and hit a young girl and killed her, the affidavit says. According to the tipper, Monroe said he hid the car in his garage, which is where it was found when investigators executed a search warrant.
"Outrageous is too tame a word to describe this act," said District Attorney Brian Mason. "My heart breaks for the family of this victim. Her life was taken away because of the selfish, dangerous acts of this defendant. I will truly never understand how someone who has already been convicted of DUI – in this case twice – can still get behind the wheel while under the influence. And now a young girl is dead. There are no words."
The City Council in Commerce City voted to install speed tables, essentially elongated speed bumps, outside all schools in the city, belonging to both Adams 14 and 27J school districts, after Kincaid's death prompted citizen petitions demanding action.
The measure passed by the council also offered to pay for and install the devices outside the two Adams 14 schools in unincorporated Adams County, including outside Monaco Elementary.
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