A pickup truck driver is dead after swerving into oncoming traffic and colliding head-on with a semi-truck in Wheat Ridge on Friday evening, and police say open containers of alcohol were found inside the wrecked pickup as they investigate whether DUI played a role. The crash happened around 6:55 p.m. near W. 44th Avenue and Eldridge Street, closing part of the area to traffic for hours while investigators worked the scene.
According to the CBS News report, the pickup truck crossed into the opposite lane and struck the semi, causing the fatal collision. The pickup's driver was pronounced deceased, per police, while the semi's driver was uninjured. Investigators say DUI may have been a factor, though that determination has not been confirmed.
Wheat Ridge police are investigating the crash at 44th and Eldridge. Authorities reopened the closed section of roadway around midnight after officers finished documenting the scene.
Open containers found inside the pickup could carry legal consequences of their own, separate from any DUI finding. Under Colorado Revised Statutes § 42-4-1305, knowingly keeping an open alcoholic beverage container within reach in a vehicle's passenger area is a Class A traffic infraction carrying a $50 fine plus court surcharges, according to the Right Law Group. That statute applies to both drivers and passengers.
What Formal DUI Charges Could Mean
If investigators ultimately determine impairment caused the fatal crash, Colorado law treats that as a serious felony matter. Causing a fatal collision while under the influence of alcohol or drugs constitutes vehicular homicide-DUI under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-3-106, a strict-liability Class 3 felony that can result in four to 12 years in prison, per the Rights & Liberties Law Firm.
Jefferson County prosecutors have shown a pattern of pursuing exactly that kind of case in Wheat Ridge over the past year. In March, a driver was sentenced to six years in state prison for a fatal high-speed crash at W. 44th Avenue and Kipling Street that killed local business owner Nate Oettinger in December 2024; crash reconstruction data showed the driver was going 78 mph.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by Wheat Ridge police.
