Dash Cam Video Leads To Truck Driver’s Arrest In Death Of Colorado Trooper

A box truck driver has been arrested and charged following the “move over” death of a Colorado State Trooper on Friday.

Trooper Fatally Struck While Investigating Previous Crash

The incident happened in the northbound lanes of I-25 south of Castle Rock around 1:30 p.m.

CSP Troopers Cody Donahue and Matthew Normandin were on the scene investigating a previous crash.

Normandin was inside his marked patrol car with the lights flashing while Donahue had exited his patrol car to investigate the crash. Police reports say that the lights on his patrol car were also activated and that he was wearing a reflective vest.

While Donahue was outside of his vehicle, a US Foods box truck driven by 41 year old Noe Gamez-Ruiz is said to have drifted over a solid white line, striking Donahue.

By the time Normandin reached Donahue, he was already dead.

Gamez-Ruiz stopped his truck immediately after the crash.

Gamez-Ruiz voluntarily submitted to a blood test, but the results of that test have not yet been released.

Police Say Video Proves Truck Driver Had Room To Move Over

Using both Gamez-Ruiz’s dash cam video and video taken from Donahue’s car, police say that they were able to determine that Gamez-Ruiz had room to move over for the patrol cars but that he failed to do so. According to the arrest warrant, there was a vehicle in the number 2 lane about 100 feet behind Gamez-Ruiz’s truck, but that the truck driver remained in the number 1 lane and didn’t move away from the troopers.

Gamez-Ruiz has been charged with failure to yield the right away to a stationary emergency vehicle and careless driving causing death.

ALERT: Colorado State Trooper ran over dead by commercial truck. R.I.P. Brother we’ll take it from here. @PoliceVoicecom pic.twitter.com/sLPUllXeaX

— PoliceVoice.com (@PoliceVoicecom) November 26, 2016

Sources:
KVOR
The Denver Channel
The Denver Post