Police: Driver Of Truck That Allegedly Killed Trooper Cooperated
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Deputies have arrested the man who they say was driving the commercial food truck that hit and killed Trooper Cody Donahue Friday afternoon.
Noe Gamez-Ruiz, 41, was cited with two misdemeanor traffic citations: careless driving resulting in death, and failure to yield the right-of-way to an emergency vehicle.
Authorities said that Gamez-Ruiz had been bailed out of jail overnight on a $500 bond.
Donahue was investigating a car accident at mile marker 180 on northbound Interstate 25 just south of Castle Rock when he was struck by a passing vehicle.
Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies responded to 911 calls from citizens reporting an officer down.
"An officer is lying in the lanes of traffic," a dispatcher told an officer who was sent to the scene.
Donahue, 34, had been working for the Colorado State Patrol for 11-years.
Upon arriving, a fellow peace officer called into dispatch to report that Donahue was deceased.
"To arrive on scene and see something that horrific, it's horrible. It's horrible for anybody to see, but when you see somebody that's in uniform, it makes it that much harder," said Chad Teller, a deputy with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators said that Gamez-Ruiz cooperated with authorities and stayed on scene after the crash.
CBS4's Melissa Garcia spoke with Gamez-Ruiz's brother-in-law, who appeared visibly shaken. He said the family was devastated by the tragedy, and would at some point make a statement but was not yet ready to do so.
State law requires drivers to move over at least one lane to pass emergency vehicles, or to at least slow down if moving over a lane is not possible.
"It was either that (Gamez-Ruiz) wasn't able to move over, or he didn't slow down, or maybe a combination of both," said Teller of the failure to yield charge.
Additional Resources
Contribute to the Cody Donahue Memorial Fund through GoFundMe.
Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.
