An Adams County judge sentenced 24-year-old Benjamin Winters to four years in prison after a DUI crash that injured four first responders in December.

District Judge Sean Finn sentenced Winters on Friday on charges of vehicular assault and third-degree assault on first responders. Winters will also serve three years of probation and pay restitution. 

“I forgive you and I hope you can move on and be a better person from it,” South Adams County Fire Department firefighter Ryan Applegate, who has gone through four surgeries with more to come since the crash, told Winters during the sentencing.

“I fall in line with that and I say that I do forgive, but unfortunately, the mental injuries that stay are unforgiving to me, and I imagine, multiple behind me,” Dillon Reid, another firefighter injured in the crash, said.

The incident occurred on Dec. 7 around 9 p.m. Both the Commerce City Police Department and South Adams County Fire Department had shut down two lanes of Interstate 76 near Sable Boulevard to work on a previous DUI car crash.

Winters then drove his Toyota Tacoma around a firetruck on the left shoulder, reentered the roadway and hit four officers and firefighters, who were in the left lane near a patrol car. He eventually came to a stop on the left shoulder of the road.

Winters’ attorney, Jeffrey Wolf, argued that Winters was not over the legal limit during the crash, claiming that his blood alcohol content (BAC) was .072. He also noted that Winters looked at his phone to change his music right before the crash occurred. 

“You put those two things together. The even slight level of intoxication with the distracted driving,” Wolf said. “You look up and it’s too late.” 

Prosecutors said that his BAC — following retrograde extrapolation — was between .089 and .114.

Wolf continued that Winters has felt nothing but self-loathing and shame throughout the process, noting that he believed that the six-year maximum sentence on his charges was not long enough. 

Applegate suffered serious injuries and required surgery and may not return to work until 2026, prosecutors said. The other three first responders suffered minor injuries.

“Every time (firefighters) respond to an accident on the highway, it will impact their thought process. It affects their ability to do their job 100%,” South Adams County Fire Department Chief Ken Koger said, adding that the injuries and time off for the three firefighters has led to an estimated $700,000 loss to the department. 

Winters pleaded guilty to all five of the charges against him on May 15. 

“I can’t express how sorry I am. How do I apologize for hitting, and almost brutally killing, four people?” Winters said at the podium. “It was selfish, immature and completely careless for me to get behind the wheel that night.”

“No one believes that you set out that day to hurt anybody. No one believes that you had any malice toward anyone,” Finn said before handing down the official sentence. “But, we do ask members of our community and the fire department and the police department to run to our assistance, and they do that happily. To have them injured, in some cases so severely, in the process of doing that is so tragic.”

Finn added that Winters tested positive for both marijuana and alcohol, despite conditions against it on his bond. 

“I cannot ignore the pain that you caused,” Finn said.