A bicyclist riding north through Denver's East Colfax area was seriously injured last Friday afternoon when a white Ford F-150 heading west blew through the intersection of North Kearney Street and East Montview Boulevard and struck him, then kept going without stopping. Nearly two weeks later, the driver still has not been identified, and police are now asking the public for help finding the truck.
According to the Denver Police Department, the crash happened on August 21 at 4:55 p.m. The suspect vehicle is described as a white Ford F-150 from roughly the 2009 to 2014 model years, possibly carrying slight to minor damage on the front driver-side fender from the impact. Investigators say the driver fled the scene without stopping or providing the information required by law, and the case is being tracked under police case number 26-465642.
Montview Boulevard is not just any residential street. It functions as a key east-west corridor linking East Denver neighborhoods to Aurora and the Anschutz Medical Campus, and the City of Aurora installed buffered bicycle lanes along the route in 2016 and 2017, removing on-street parking specifically to make room for safer cycling, according to the City of Aurora. Despite that infrastructure investment, the corridor was still the site of a crash serious enough to leave a cyclist with lasting injuries.
How Denver Police Are Trying to Track Down the Truck
Denver's Traffic Investigations Unit has developed a working relationship with local auto repair shops, which notify investigators when vehicles come in bearing damage that matches descriptions from hit-and-run scenes — a method that could prove useful given the suspected fender damage on the F-150 in this case, per the Denver DUI Attorney Blog. The department also reserves its formal Crime Alerts, like the one issued in this case, for collisions involving serious bodily injury, fatalities, or full roadway closures, and it has cautioned that its social media channels are not staffed around the clock for emergency reporting.
Anyone with information is being asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers, an independent nonprofit that operates on private donations and offers cash rewards of up to $2,000 for anonymous tips that help police clear felony cases. The organization has processed more than 54,000 tips and helped clear over 4,750 cases since 1981. Tipsters must go through the tip line or the group's website to remain anonymous and qualify for a reward; the line is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
What the Driver Could Be Facing
Under Colorado law, drivers involved in injury crashes are required to stop immediately, stay at the scene, provide identification and registration, and render reasonable assistance to anyone hurt, according to FindLaw. Fleeing the scene of a crash that causes serious bodily injury is classified as a Class 4 felony in Colorado, carrying two to six years in prison, fines that can reach $500,000, and mandatory revocation of the driver's license. State law defines serious bodily injury as harm involving a substantial risk of death, permanent disfigurement, or long-term impairment of an organ.
A Familiar Pattern on Denver Streets
This crash adds to a troubling run of hit-and-run and serious-injury collisions involving cyclists across the metro area in recent weeks. Hoodline previously reported on a driver who left a cyclist badly hurt near Knox Court, as well as separate serious injury crashes involving cyclists near Wash Park and on the protected 15th Street bikeway downtown. Just a day before this alert went out, Hoodline also reported that a 38-year-old Denver man was killed in a hit-and-run in Adams County, where investigators similarly tracked an abandoned white Ford F-150.
The pattern reflects broader regional trends. Between 2020 and 2024, the Denver Regional Council of Governments documented 9,608 fatal or severe-injury crashes across the nine-county metro area, resulting in 1,564 deaths and more than 9,500 serious injuries — an increase of more than 30 percent over those five years. In response, DRCOG has set a Regional Vision Zero goal aiming to eliminate traffic fatalities across the region by 2040.
Within Denver city limits, 665 serious injuries from motor vehicle crashes were recorded in 2024, with 200 of those involving non-motorists such as bicyclists and pedestrians, according to the Flesch Law Firm. Citywide traffic deaths reportedly climbed to 93 in 2025 based on local traffic reporting. The city has since rolled out its “20 is Plenty” initiative, lowering default residential speed limits from 25 mph to 20 mph, and launched the SPEED program to deploy automated speed enforcement cameras across dangerous corridors through 2026, though bicycle advocates continue to push for more physical protection on streets like Montview Boulevard.
For now, investigators are relying on the public to help close the gap. Anyone with information about the driver or vehicle can call or text 911 for emergencies, reach Denver police non-emergency services at 720-913-2000, or contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or through its website to remain eligible for the reward.
