2 Charged In Montrose County Motorcycle Death
MONTROSE, Colo. (AP) - A motorcyclist who was killed in southwestern Colorado last fall had run into a chain and a rope stretched across a highway, and prosecutors have filed charges alleging two men were using the line to retrieve an elk carcass, authorities said Friday.
Trever Rawson, 34, of Fountain died Oct. 12 when he struck the line that was stretched chest-high across Colorado 92 in Montrose County, the Colorado State Patrol said in a news release.
Authorities declined to discuss the case, and it wasn't clear when charges were filed and why there was a delay in taking the case to court.
The charges allege Mark Valdez, 47, of Delta and Kevin Keener, 43, of Anton had attached the line to a pickup on one side of the road and the elk on the other, and were dragging the elk toward the road.
Valdez didn't immediately respond to a phone message. No number could be found for Keener.
The elk had been killed earlier in the day, authorities said. It wasn't clear if the rope and chain were linked end-to-end or intertwined.
The impact threw Rawson from the motorcycle and knocked off his helmet, authorities said. He died at the scene.
Valdez and Keener both face charges of vehicular homicide, criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter, accessory to a crime and reckless endangerment. Valdez also faces charges of failing to render aid after a fatal accident and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The State Patrol news release alleged that no one helped Rawson or called 911 and that at least one of the men tried to persuade a teenage witness to help cover up what happened.
Both men face also hunting-related charges including willful destruction of big game wildlife and wasting big game wildlife.
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