Colorado Deputy Risked Life to Stop Wrong Way Driver

An Adams County sheriff deputy in Colorado is being credited with saving lives on I-70 by using his patrol car to stop a wrong way driver. Just after 11:00 PM Monday Adams County deputies responded to a request from the Colorado State Patrol about a wrong way driver in the eastbound lane of I70. Deputies stopped traffic ahead of the speeding vehicle. They hoped to avoid a collision as the wrong way driver continued to barrel towards the Adams County Deputies.

One deputy decided to put himself in between his fellow police officers and innocent lives on I-70. He got into his patrol car and placed himself between the speeding wrong way vehicle and his fellow colleagues in the Police Department. He bravely used his own patrol car to shield the innocent, risking his life in the process. He allowed his patrol car to be struck in order to stop the speeding vehicle going the wrong direction. The impact of the collision sent both vehicles over 140 feet. Both vehicles ended up smashing into the front of a stopped semi-truck.

Photos shared by the Sheriff’s Office online show the impact to the patrol car. The patrol car’s rear is crushed in, and the doors are crumpled. The side of the back panel of the sheriff’s deputy’s vehicle looks to be partially sheared off. There is no rear wheel well above the wheel. It looks like the back bumper has been partially torn off. The airbags have been deployed inside of the patrol car as well. You can barely see where the last part of sheriff is on the side of the vehicle. Additional photos shared by the sheriff online show the vehicle that was going the wrong way. The vehicle that was going the wrong way has a front end that is completely caved in. The front doors are swung outwards against the hinge’s natural direction. All of the glass is broken and shattered around the vehicle in tiny shards. The airbags have been deployed in the vehicle. Even the front of the semi-truck is somewhat smashed although nowhere near as bad as both the deputy’s patrol car and the vehicle that was going the wrong direction.

Fortunately, the deputy was not harmed and the process of saving so many lives. Neither was anyone else on the Interstate. The driver of the wrong way vehicle did not suffer major injuries. However, both the deputy and the driver of the wrong way vehicle had medics called to attend to any possible injuries as a precaution. If not for this hero deputy many people could have died. Authorities did not say why the wrong way driver was on the wrong side of the highway or how the driver ended up there. It hasn’t been determined if charges will be filed against the driver going the wrong direction.

“We are thankful that the only casualties were the vehicles involved,” the sheriff’s office said. “There is no doubt that without the deputy’s quick action and bravery several vehicles would have been struck at high speeds and lives would have been lost.“