A woman has died after being struck by a van while crossing East Colfax Avenue near Scranton Street in Aurora, in a crash that unfolded Thursday evening. Officers arrived to find her lying in the roadway, and she was rushed to a hospital, where she later died from her injuries. The driver stayed at the scene afterward.
Aurora police responded to the intersection near East Colfax Avenue and Scranton Street, according to KDVR / FOX31 Denver. Investigators determined the woman was crossing mid-block outside a designated crosswalk when she was struck by a GMC van, according to the release cited by the station. Her identity has not been released.
Officials have not pointed to speed or intoxication as contributing factors in the crash, and the driver is reportedly cooperating with investigators. Officers responded around 7:30 p.m. Thursday; the van's direction of travel has not been made public.
Same Stretch of Colfax Saw a Deadly Crash Last Year
This is not the first fatal pedestrian crash at this exact Aurora location. In May 2025, a pedestrian was fatally struck near East Colfax Avenue and Scranton Street by a vehicle driven by an Adams County coroner investigator, according to The Denver Post. In that earlier case, police said the pedestrian was not in the crosswalk at the time of the crash and that they did not believe speed was a factor — echoing the same mid-block, no-crosswalk circumstances described in Thursday's incident.
Aurora has also seen other fatal pedestrian crashes in recent weeks. Last month, a 35-year-old man died after being struck by two vehicles while crossing South Peoria Street just south of East Tennessee Avenue, the Denver Post reported. He was crossing mid-block around 8:15 p.m. when a southbound vehicle first hit him, throwing him into the northbound lanes, where a second vehicle struck him; both drivers in that crash stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators.
Pedestrian Deaths Have Climbed Statewide
The pattern of deadly mid-block and intersection crashes reflects a broader trend across Colorado. Pedestrian fatalities statewide rose from 54 in 2013 to 135 in 2023, a 150% increase, according to The Colorado Sun. In 2023 alone, pedestrian deaths accounted for 19% of all traffic fatalities in the state.
The Colorado Sun's analysis found that 62% of pedestrian crashes statewide between 2013 and 2023 occurred at or near intersections, though only 35% of fatalities did — suggesting many of the deadliest crashes, like the ones near Colfax and Scranton, happen elsewhere along a roadway. The outlet also reported that Denver, Aurora and Colorado Springs each outpace Boulder in per-capita pedestrian deaths. A 2016 case the outlet cited, the death of 22-year-old Dalton M. McCreary while walking in an Aurora crosswalk, stands in contrast to the mid-block circumstances described in Thursday's crash and the 2025 incident at the same intersection.
No charges have been announced in connection with Thursday's crash, and the investigation remains active.
