Man convicted in DUI crash that killed Commerce City officer
An Adams County jury convicted a man of vehicular homicide after a 2020 DUI crash left a Commerce City Police Department detective and another victim dead.
Following a three-day trial in an Adams County District Court, 49-year-old Fructuoso Rosales-Cano was convicted Thursday of two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of driving under the influence with two-or-more priors, according to a news release from the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
The incident occurred on Oct. 16, 2020 when Rosales-Cano was driving his Ford F-350 westbound on Highway 2 near Turnberry Parkway in Commerce City. Rosales-Cano was speeding and passing slower cars on the highway. He then overcorrected to avoid side-swiping a barrier wall, swerving into oncoming traffic, according to the news release.
The defendant then struck the driver’s side door of Curt Holland’s vehicle. Holland was a detective with the Commerce City Police Department for four years and was on duty at the time of the crash. The defendant’s truck then rotated, tipped and crushed Francesca Dominguez’s Kia Soul.
Both of the victims died instantly from “devastating injuries,” according to the Office of the Coroner of Adams and Broomfield Counties.
The defendant also suffered life-threatening injuries, but ultimately survived.
A search of Rosales-Cano’s vehicle found empty beer cans and small liquor bottles, according to the news release. Rosales-Cano’s blood alcohol content was .294, more than three times the legal limit in Colorado. Rosales-Cano was previously convicted of DUI in 1997 and 2006.
“The damage caused by this defendant is truly unfathomable,” District Attorney Brian Mason said in the release. “Because of one man’s indefensible decision to drink and drive, two innocent victims are dead and countless lives are shattered. Francesca Dominguez did not deserve to be taken from her loved ones. Detective Curt Holland should still be alive today serving the community he loved with his wife and two children by his side.”
The conviction comes one day after the funeral of 33-year-old Evan Dunn, a Golden police officer who was struck and killed in a suspected DUI crash on Highway 58 on Nov. 6.
The suspect in the fatal crash, 43-year-old Stephen Geer, was officially charged with one count of vehicular homicide, two counts of vehicular assault, one count of third-degree assault and one count of driving under the influence on Thursday morning.
Rosales-Cano is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 9.