On-duty Golden police officer killed in Colorado crash, another officer hurt

A 33-year-old Colorado police officer has been killed in a car crash in snowy conditions and another officer was hurt. A suspected DUI driver is in custody after the crash. It happened on Tuesday just before 5 p.m. in Golden on the west side of the Denver metro area.

The officers — a man and a woman — both worked for the Golden Police Department. They were outside their patrol vehicle on the Golden Freeway (Highway 58) near the intersection with Washington Avenue just before the crash doing an accident investigation. That’s when they were struck by the suspected DUI driver’s vehicle. 

The officers wound up trapped underneath that vehicle. The male officer died at the scene.

The officer who was injured is female. She was taken to the hospital and the extent of her injuries is unknown.

Highway 58 was closed in the area around the crash for a lengthy period while the investigation into the fatal crash took place.

The officer who died was in the military prior to becoming a police officer. His wife asked that his name not be released to the media at this time.

“He was an amazing human being. He has had a long, stoic career in the military, where he flew Black Hawk helicopters and served as a commander,” Golden Police Chief Joe Harvey said. “He will be survived by a wonderful wife, a sister and parents.”

“Internally, he’s going to be survived by 71 members of his Golden family,” an emotional Harvey told reporters Tuesday night.

First Alert Chief Meteorologist Dave Aguilera says Golden has received at least 8 inches of snow with the storm that started dropping moisture on Monday night.