DENVER – Prosecutors have charged a man with a single count of vehicular homicide in connection to a deadly crash that happened earlier this month at the intersection of W. Evans Ave. and S. Zuni Street.
Donovan Bartlett, 41, is accused of the charge after he allegedly ran several red lights and collided with a minivan, which killed one man and injured two others around 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 12.
According to a probable cause statement written by a Denver Police Department officer, the minivan was southbound on Zuni and was going through the intersection on a green light when a Dodge pickup truck driven by Bartlett smashed into the passenger side of the van.
The front passenger of the vehicle died at the scene of the crash and the driver and backseat passenger were taken to Denver Health Medical Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The probable cause statement said witnesses told officers they had seen the same pickup driving quickly and running red lights before the crash. Bartlett was taken into custody after a field sobriety test. According to the probable cause statement, Bartlett admitted something to officers about his alleged impairment, but that portion of the statement is redacted.
Bartlett originally consented to a blood draw, but when he got to the hospital, he refused to have one taken and asked for a lawyer, according to the document. But an officer wrote a search warrant, which was signed by a judge, to obtain six tubes of blood from him, after which time he was taken to the Downtown Detention Center and booked.
The probable cause statement does not contain further details about the case. Bartlett is next due in court on March 2 for a second advisement hearing.
