 All right. Good afternoon. I'm Lieutenant Robert Rock with the Denver Police Traffic Investigations Unit. Last name is spelled ROCK. I'd like to introduce an investigative team to you. This is Sergeant Dave Bingham. Last name B-I-N-G-H-A-M Detective Stephanie Lincas, L-I-N-K-U-S, and Detective Dave Ryan R-Y-A-N So we're here to talk to you today about the incident that occurred yesterday on the 3rd of January at Colorado in Mexico It was a four-vehicle collision that resulted in two people Dying at one on scene and one was transported And then we had Five other or six other individuals that were transported including the driver of the car that Started this whole incident I will be having Detective Ryan step up here in a moment to explain the dynamics of this collision Uh But I did want to share with you that we have received notification On the uh from the coroner's office on the identification of the two parties that Lost their lives yesterday. The first party. Mr. Anthony Mills, date of birth 129 of 73 He was pronounced deceased on scene and then Mr. Jonathan Nichols date of birth 113 of 1986 He was transported and later pronounced deceased at the hospital Um, at this time, I'll ask Detective Ryan to step over here and explain What he was able to determine For the collision dynamics and then I'll come back and talk about some other issues and then answer any questions You might have So I kind of on last minute pulled up a small photo. What's that? David Ryan R-Y-A-N So this uh, this kind of a small scale that we put together here real quick of the Collision there's a couple events that took place Uh, first and foremost what happened was we had Two motor vehicles that were stopped in Northbound traffic on colorado boulevard stopped at the red light The individual that caused this collision was traveling at a high rate of speed Um traveling towards this uh intersection at mexico He failed to stop and witnesses have estimated anywhere from 78 miles per hour He struck the vehicle where the two deceased were occupied It's a Pontiac vibe that they were traveling and they're at a complete stop They were then pushed into a forward escape that was occupied by five individuals who were all transported by the hospital Subsequently what happened after that was a forward escape was pushed out into traffic And it was hit by a vehicle that was traveling eastbound on mexico through the intersection That vehicle is a blue ford ranger And after that blue ford ranger struck this side of the escape it sent it spinning and rolling onto its side At the same time that the ford ranger was striking the forward escape The vehicle where the deceased were driving in uh was also moving forward and struck the passenger side of the blue truck The vehicle the deceased was in then spun out to the northeast corner of the intersection where it came to rest The blue truck was redirected to the north north of the intersection where it came to rest as well And then the black suv which caused this collision continued through the intersection And made contact with the forward escape again After the forward escape was on its side the black suv came to rest in the windshield of the forward escape And that's pretty much those are kind of the main events as to what took place during this collision So to clarify some of the things that we were able to determine yesterday There was an initial call that the denver fire department and the denver police department received on a party slumped over a wheel at the location of colorado and evans Right around that area A fire department was able to show up there first and they did find an individual matching that description And when they attempted to make contact and assist whether that gentleman needed help or not When he apparently came to he put his car in gear and he Took off driving northbound on colorado boulevard At a high rate of speed and kind of weaving so the fire department requested that the dpd still continue in Which they did and then at that point in time They lost sight of the vehicle as it crested that hill if you've been Northbound on colorado boulevard there right at the highway. There's kind of a hill and lost side of it right over the hill there and so they The fire department pulled out onto colorado boulevard and started traveling that direction at that point in time the collision occurred They heard then the Witnesses started calling in the incident and police started to respond to that location and it's at that point that they Found this the one engine did arrive on scene and assisted with extrications And assisting the injured At this point in time we are We have made a preliminary arrest of the driver samir DeWitt for investigation of driving under the influence And we're looking into that aspect of this collision We're also looking into any possible medical Issues as you all know we've been been here before with people with potential medical problems. And so we're trying to Determine whether that is a factor or not But the details of that part of the investigation that's as much as I can get into with that at this time We have been notified that everyone from the Third vehicle that was involved that was occupied five times Everyone has been released except for one person who is in fair condition at the hospital at this time Obviously the Mr. DeWitt is still in the hospital on a police hold and The two decedents have have already been Taken to the Denver coroner's office where they were autopsy this morning This time I would entertain any questions you might have That will certainly be something that we're going to be doing an accident reconstruction on to determine that calculation, but Just a preliminary estimate at least twice the speed limit in that location We have you know, it's 35 through there Looking at the damage that was done to the vehicle that was struck and then forced into the other car And many of you have seen the video of it and the pictures that were taken yesterday. It was Crushed from the rear and from the front to to the point where if you pulled up The nitsa website and looked at their 35 mile an hour crash tests. That's it looks worse than that Obviously, we had some what we call override and underride where you've got a high profile vehicle that hits a low profile vehicle so it it impacts the trunk rather than the Say the frame of the vehicle which you know trunks and hoods of vehicles crush a lot easier than the frame of the vehicle Does so it's sometimes hard to tell and cars these days are designed to crumple up like a Piece of paper to keep the people inside safe. But in this instance, it was such Such severe damage that the folks inside that vehicle could not survive it It's not something that we're necessarily looking into that's Specific to this case the vehicle is licensed as a limousine But as far as you know, what relationship that might have the only thing that we would be looking at is What was he doing in that area and what can the company or anyone tell us about that? Have you found anything out regarding that? At this point the investigation is ongoing. I mean, we've certainly discovered some things But we're not a liberty to share those at this point in time Due to the fact that there there is a crime. This is a criminal investigation and There may be additional charges pending, but nothing that really relates to the limousine Those things are currently under investigation and as far as any indicia of alcohol I can't get into that because we will be presenting this case to the district attorney's office for a filing decision Prior to that initial call, we're collecting that information at this time, but we don't have a clear picture Not at this time, but we we intend to obtain a statement from him here shortly It was primarily due to the fact that he was undergoing medical treatment that we couldn't interview him at the time That's correct. Yeah, and they're in fair condition Previous to slumping over the wheel or? Not that we can Determine at this point in time and we haven't been able to determine that there was anybody Else in the vehicle with him at the time of the crash either Do you know where he was right before I mean had he been at a bar or anything like that, you know At this point in time, it's part of the investigation that we're trying to track down And how long was he there like slump? He was actually on color at a boulevard What just like stopped and slumped over or? Um, yeah initially on the roadway, but then in a parking lot in that area So yeah, and there was just a concerned citizen that called in to the combined communication center to report that And that's how the police got the call to that location Initially on the road and then moved his vehicle to a parking lot That's correct Several of them may have the same last name and and we're hoping that within Another day we'll be able to get you a completed copy of the axter report, but it looks like family and friends No, they were not they were in the Pontiac vibe Um, not at this time Correct. Yeah, just the two Yeah Anytime you have a vehicle that's that size that's speeding It carries a tremendous amount of energy behind it and The impacts are a lot greater. I mean we're constantly trying to tell folks Slow down obey the speed limits. I mean that that's why we enforce speed limits every time you Increase your speed another 10 miles an hour. You're quadrupling the energy that that you're bringing down the road with you I mean, it's it's a simple physics formula And I don't think a lot of folks have have an appreciation for just how dangerous that can be It increases the amount of distance you need to stop it increases the amount of distance you need to react so that For this particular situation Um pending what we find out about any levels of intoxication if any or anything else of that nature We just really cautioned people to follow the speed limits I mean really is getting somewhere a couple seconds ahead of time worth the risk and You know, I've been doing this a lot of years It's not Do you guys remember? Yeah, we'd have to look and and uh, you know look into that I mean certainly we we have preserved all of these vehicles as evidence and that's something that Really doesn't uh play into our scenario as far as a criminal investigation, but is always subject to Investigating in the civil realm If we note that something seems to be clearly out of place we'll investigate that and we have found That people have had airbag deployments And they haven't gotten their airbags replaced or they haven't replaced them with ones that are certified and so You know, that's That could be an issue if you didn't see it But I can't say that I uh, I noticed that to many of the photographs that I reviewed Does it look like he tried to stop at all? Some of the witnesses were saying that, you know, it was clear There was traffic ahead that was at the line does it appear that he tried to stop? Yeah, at this point in time we did not notice any break marks prior to impact Oh, absolutely. We always look into that. I mean, certainly, you know in the christopher boker case That really brought to the forefront of the public's attention that We could have people who have medical issues and we've certainly had people who've had heart attacks before and Behind the wheel and have caused bad collisions. So that's always something that we have to look into as a potential Factor in every case, which we're looking into in this case as well But typically because that's kind of ways I mean typically it was a medical issue wouldn't you expect him to decelerate rather than accelerate? Not necessarily I mean, and I can speak to you on the heart attack issue Typically when people suffer a heart attack their body goes rigid and so if their foot's on the accelerator at that point in time They're going to do nothing but accelerate Is he being treated for a heart attack? Not that i'm aware of at this point in time He he's in serious condition at this point According to uh According to the information that I have here it appears that he does have a valid driver's license and that there are no Thank you Thanks a lot