WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — A woman died in a multi-vehicle crash on eastbound Interstate 70 near Ward Road Thursday morning and a DUI suspect has been arrested, Wheat Ridge police confirmed to Denver7.
The two-vehicle crash was reported around 5:15 a.m. Thursday. Based on a preliminary investigation, police determined that one of the drivers had been headed westbound in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70. That person then crashed nearly head-on with another driver, said Alex Rose, public information officer with the Wheat Ridge Police Department.
Police found one person who had died at the scene, as well as a young child who was transported to the hospital and is expected to be OK, Rose said.
The suspect driver, who has been identified as Jian Bin Chen, 34, was also brought to a hospital but has been released and is in custody on suspicion of DUI.
He is facing charges of vehicular homicide, driving under the influence of alcohol, driving a vehicle on the wrong side of a divided highway, and failure to present evidence of insurance, according to the police department.
A third driver reportedly hit debris from the initial crash, Rose said, but they were not injured.
Hear more about this crash in the Wheat Ridge Police Department's update to the press, in the video below:
"Our officers are going to be looking at all sorts of different evidence, between witness statements, any sort of video surveillance and cameras in the area, and reviewing that to help us build our case up," Rose said.
Colorado State Patrol and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office also responded to the crash.
The Jefferson County Coroner's Office will release the identity of the person who died once family is notified.
Eastbound I-70 was closed at 32nd Avenue for the crash investigation, Jeffcom 911 said.
During the closure, Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber advised that the investigation into the crash will likely take several hours. The road reopened more than five hours later, around 10:45 a.m. Thursday.
The access from eastbound Highway 58 to eastbound I-70 closed to keep drivers off I-70, but eastbound 58 was open to westbound I-70. Traffic backed up on westbound I-70 before Kipling Street after the crash occurred, Luber reported.
Rebecca Green the state executive director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Colorado said Thursday morning's crash is devastating.
"Every day, we are working with families who are impacted," Green said. "They know the worst of the worst when it comes to impaired driving. They know that in an instant, a loved one can be taken away as as we see in this crash."
Green told Denver7 it's especially difficult to think about the young child involved in the crash.
"I have young children myself," she said. "It is gutting to think of them growing up without their best friends, or having their life forever changed because somebody made the choice to, you know, consume an impairing substance like alcohol or cannabis or other drugs and then get behind the wheel of a car."
"It's a very selfish choice," Green added. "It's the wrong choice that people make often."
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