'Who Would Ever Expect' It Says Witness To Wrong-Way Driver Collision On I-25
WELD COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, a wrong-way driver on Interstate 25 slammed into a pickup truck near the Erie exit. The 18-year-old driver died and two others in the pickup were injured.
Jonathan Stanley was on his way to pick up his daughters from the airport when he came upon the crash and stopped to help.
"Put on my flashers, and I hopped over the center median and went to the most damaged vehicle first," he said.
Officers say the driver of the mangled sedan was going the wrong way down I-25 when she drove head-on into an oncoming pick-up truck.
"The debris field was incredible, it covered all three lanes," said Stanley.
The wrong-way driver was identified as 18-year-old Siara Jaramillo of Longmont.
"The damage to the interior was so extensive, that she actually was partially in the back of the vehicle," Stanley said.
He pried open the door of the sedan, and saw that she was dead. He then turned to the pickup and pulled its driver from the smoking vehicle.
"They just kept saying over and over and over, she came out of nowhere, she came out of nowhere," Stanley said of the men in the pickup truck.
Colorado State Patrol Sergeant Rob Madden said the two men in the pickup were lucky to escape with minor injuries.
The accident leaves many questions unanswered.
"Had she just entered the highway? Had she crossed over at an earlier point, or had she entered from an off ramp?" Sgt. Madden asked.
Colorado State Patrol is now investigating whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.
"The driver and his friend were just on their way to a job. And early in the morning, out of nowhere, who would ever expect someone to be driving at high speed, the opposite direction of traffic on I-25? So it was heartbreaking," Stanley said.
Investigators are asking for anyone who witnessed the crash, or saw where that wrong-way driver got onto the interstate, to call the Colorado State Patrol.
