Man pleads guilty in crash that injured 4 first responders
Courtesy photo, Adams County Sheriff's via 9NEWS
A man who was driving drunk in December when he crashed into multiple first responders who were investigating an earlier crash pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to multiple charges in Adams County District Court.
Benjamin Winters was arrested after the Dec. 7 crash on Interstate 76 near Sable Boulevard in the Commerce City area. 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, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
Investigators said Winters drove around a firetruck on the left shoulder, reentered the roadway and hit the officers and firefighters, who were in the left lane near a patrol car. He continued on before coming to a stop on the left shoulder.
WARNING: this video is disturbing.
After a guilty plea, we are releasing a portion of the body cam footage from last December when a DUI driver crashed through a scene and struck 2 police officers and 2 firefighters.
More info on our Facebook/Instagram. pic.twitter.com/8mwRvrO1Tz
— Commerce City Police Department (@CommerceCityPD) May 15, 2024
One of the firefighters suffered serious injuries and required surgery.
On Wednesday morning, Winters pleaded guilty to all charges against him. That included:
- Vehicular assault – DUI
- Vehicular assault – reckless
- Three counts of third-degree assault – first responder
He’s scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 9.
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