Victims of July 5 DUI crash on Circle Drive bridge in Colorado Springs identified
Courtesy of CSPD
Two young adults killed in a crash that ejected them from the bed of a pickup truck in Colorado Springs the morning after the Fourth of July have been identified by the El Paso County Coroner’s Office.
Fernando Gallardo-Franco, 20, was found dead in the southbound lanes of Circle Drive on the bridge over Hancock Expressway around 2:30 a.m., after a man believed by police to be under the influence of alcohol rear-ended the truck.
1 killed, 1 seriously injured in suspected DUI crash on Circle Drive bridge; driver arrested
Gallardo-Franco reportedly struck the bridge barriers and died. Another passenger riding in the bed of the truck, Jorge Avier-Cruz, 19, flew over the bridge, putting him in the hospital, where he died almost two weeks later.
Officers from the Colorado Springs Police Department arrested the suspect, 20-year-old Chase Chason, who remained at the crash.
Chase Chason, 20, was charged with vehicular homicide and driving under the influence after a traffic crash that killed two people the morning after July 4.
Preliminary investigation indicates the pickup truck was traveling southbound on Circle Drive and approaching the overpass area when a white BMW heading in the same direction hit the truck, according to Chason’s arrest affidavit.
Chason told officers that he was speeding at about 55 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to his arrest affidavit. When he rounded the curve, Chason said there was a truck stopped in front of him and he crashed into it.
Chason is being charged with vehicular homicide and driving under the influence, according to a Tuesday CSPD news release.
