According to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, a thus-far-unknown Subaru driver appears to have hit a woman walking on a closed road, running over her foot in the process. Photos, video and details below.
The altercation reportedly took place just shy of 3:30 p.m. October 27 on Flagstaff Road.
"The road is closed except for residents," says BCSO Commander Heidi Prentup -- but a man and a woman were walking along it anyhow, in order to access some nearby trails that have reopened since the flooding.
What happened next? "The two people who were walking on the road said they were approached by a woman in a car," Prentup notes. "I believe the woman stayed in her car the whole time, but she yelled at them, saying the road was closed and they needed to get off it."That's a little different from the account the thus-far-unidentified walker shared with 7News.
She told the station the Subaru driver claimed the road was "private" -- a description that doesn't fit Flagstaff. "It accesses several subdivisions, and you can get to Cold Creek Canyon from that roadway, too," Prentup points out.Not that Prentup believes the couple were totally in the right. "From what I've heard, the people were walking in the road, which they shouldn't have been," she allows. In her view, "they should not have been up there recreating" because of the continuing closure.
Still, Prentup emphasizes that these factors in no way justify the way the shout-fest was punctuated: "After yelling at them for a couple of minutes, she drove off, and struck the female of the couple when she did."
At this point, investigators aren't certain what part of the car smacked the woman, but Prentup says "she has injuries to her foot and a couple of scrapes in other places, too."
Here's a photo taken of the woman's toes at a hospital emergency room:
Did the driver of the vehicle injure the woman intentionally? "We have no way to tell that until we talk to the person who was driving the car," Prentup maintains. She's described as a Caucasian between 25 and 35, with shoulder length blond hair. She was smoking, and her car, a sky blue Subaru Outback wagon, may have sported "Choose Life" license plates.Possible charges against the woman could include vehicular assault and hit and run, Prentup says -- and while she understands why the driver might have been upset, she makes it clear that the situation could have been handled much better.
"People up in the mountains are still very impacted by the flooding and road closures," Prentup says. "They've had to change their lives because of it, while the people on the flats who may or may not have been impacted probably have recovered by now, and are ready to get on with their lives and recreate. And when those two things come together, there's a lot of frustration. But we definitely would ask people not to take matters into their own hands. They should call the authorities to help mediate the situation."
Here's the 7News report featuring an interview with the injured woman.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.
More from our News archive circa September: "Videos: Startling aerial footage of flooding in Lyons, Longmont."
