Article Contributed on: 7/28/2009 12:10:41 PM
The deceased driver of the Ford Taurus is identified as Christal Gordon, 21 years old, of Aurora, CO.
On Tuesday, July 28 2009 at 1:48 am, officers of the Aurora Police Traffic Section responded to a report of a serious injury accident on I-225 just south of E Yale Ave. Arriving officers found a Gold Ford Taurus and an RTD bus in the median. The driver of the Ford Taurus, identified only as a 21 year old female at this time, suffered fatal injuries as a result of the collision and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and three occupants of the RTD bus were transported by ambulance to an area hospital with minor injuries.
Accident investigators were called to the scene and began reconstructing the accident. What is known at this time is the following:
CDOT was conducting road maintenance on I-225 and one of their employees came upon the Ford Taurus stopped in the median of I-225 south of E Yale Ave. The female driver was standing outside of the vehicle. The CDOT employee, who was driving a clearly identifiable CDOT vehicle, stopped to assist the female. Before the CDOT employee could reach the female, she entered the car and drove off, proceeding northbound in the southbound lanes of I-225. After driving about 500 feet the Taurus collided head on with the southbound RTD bus. The force of the impact drove the Taurus backwards about 250 feet into the median where both vehicles came to rest.
While it does not appear that excessive speed was a factor in this accident, the reconstruction should be able to determine the speeds of the vehicles. It is not known if alcohol was a factor and investigators will await the results of toxicology tests to make that determination. At this time, it is not known why the female was stopped in the median of I-225. It does not appear that the CDOT maintenance activities contributed in any way to this accident.