An 18-year-old Aurora man was killed in a harrowing collision early Sunday morning after driving the wrong way on Interstate 70 near Watkins. The Colorado State Patrol responded to the incident around 12:15 a.m., following reports of a vehicle traveling west in the eastbound lanes. The fatal crash occurred when the young man's Subaru Impreza struck a semitrailer head-on, according to KDVR.
The State Patrol attempted to intervene before the crash, with the trooper finding the Subaru parked facing the wrong direction on the shoulder of eastbound I-70. Efforts to attract the driver's attention with a spotlight were unsuccessful, as the vehicle proceeded to drive away, moving westward in the eastbound lanes, CSP officials detailed to Denver7. The Subaru driver, whose identity will be released by the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office at a later date, was pronounced dead at the scene. The semitrailer driver escaped without injury.
Following the incident, the 17th Judicial District Critical Incident Response Team has taken charge of the investigations. The state patrol trooper followed the wrong-way driver, activating emergency lights, from the westbound highway until the crash occurred, as reported by The Denver Post.
