Colorado State Patrol cadet killed near Longmont as he tried to save tow truck driver
As a police chase sped down a state highway Saturday morning, a Colorado State Patrol cadet shouted a warning to a tow truck driver to get out of the way. Then, a fleeing Honda barreled through the unrelated accident scene and hit State Patrol Cadet Taylor Thyfault. Thyfault, 21, was killed.
Clinton Rushing, a 37-year-old trooper, also was struck. He was hospitalized with critical injuries but is expected to survive. The car's driver, Christopher Lee Gebers, 27, was treated and released from Longmont United Hospital and then taken to the Boulder County Jail. He is being held Saturday for investigation of first-degree murder with extreme indifference, attempted first-degree murder with extreme indifference, vehicular assault, vehicular homicide, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, eluding a police officer, driving vehicle while license canceled/denied and illegal use of blue lights, Longmont Police said.
Colorado State Patrol, Weld County Sheriffs Deputies, Longmont Police and Mountain View Fire Rescue personnel are seen near Weld County Road 1 and Colo. 66 while working the scene of a fatal incident on Saturday. (Matthew Jonas, Longmont Times-Call)
Rusty Melvin, the tow truck driver, said he believes Thyfault saved his life. If the cadet hadn't yelled for him to stay out of the road, he very well may have been hit by the speeding car because he was walking around his tow truck to put a railing in place.
Melvin, who is married and has two children, said he heard sirens and saw the cadet with his hands out, warning him to get back. "The cadet told me, 'Get off the road! Get off the road!'" he said. Melvin was towing cars that had been involved in an earlier accident on Colorado 66 near County Line Road, just northeast of Longmont.
Rushing and Thyfault also were helping at the scene, said Jeff Satur, a spokesman for the Longmont Police Department.
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