Colorado state Trooper Jaimie Jursevics stood along Interstate 25 late Sunday, waving a flashlight to summon a suspected drunk driver to the shoulder.
While a witness watched and listened from a car behind, Jursevics screamed as she was hit by the pickup truck, according to an arrest affidavit. Her flashlight tumbled through the air as she was thrown onto the roadway in Castle Rock where she lay without a pulse.
Several miles away, the driver of the pickup, retired Army Col. Eric Peter Henderson, was arrested after investigators say he answered an officer's questions through glassy eyes, slurred speech and the smell of alcohol.
"I killed a cop," Henderson later told detectives through tears, according to the affidavit released Monday.
Jursevics, who joined the Colorado State Patrol in January 2011 and began working at the agency's Castle Rock office in 2014, is survived by her husband and 8-month-old daughter, according to a GoFundMe site
.
Please donate to the Flying Wheels Foundation ! We need your help to take care of the family of Colorado State Trooper Jaimie Jursevics. She lost her life in the line of duty on 11/15/15 @ 8:40 PM while investigating a crash on I-25 @ Tomah Rd. in Castlerock Co.
Trooper Jursevics, age 33, is survived by her husband, and 8 month old daughter.
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Another senseless death, another family destroyed, another child left motherless, another servant taken from our community ... all because of the self-absorbed ignorance of another flaming asshole.
Perhaps this time, the D.A. can disregard this retired colonel's prior good deeds and mete out the proper punishment. Perhaps Henderson will get more than 10 days in jail as Blair Gledhill did. Perhaps the Colorado justice system will draw a firm line that vehicular homicide will not stand in this state. We can only hope.
Turn off your phone, don't drive drunk or stoned, slow down, respect the lives of others. It's not that complicated. We must ask ourselves how we could possibly live our lives knowing we killed someone's child by our own arrogant stupidity.
Trooper Jursevics, thank you for your service. We are diminished.
Bail was cut in half, and Henderson bonded out this morning for $50K. DA argued against it.
The facts seem pretty clear. Trooper Jursevics was killed almost instantly when Henderson mowed her down in his drunkenness. He was pulled over several miles away.
"Henderson was arrested for vehicular homicide, failure to remain on scene, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and careless driving resulting in death.
Henderson is due back in court on Friday for the formal filing of charges."
Like Henderson, I'm a veteran. I've never been arrested or charged with anything. However, my stellar citizenship - just like Henderson's - shouldn't exonerate me from facing the music if I choose to drink and drive and destroy someone's life. Drinking is ALWAYS intentional. There's no such as accidental drinking. He endangered any person on the road that night, everyone he would encounter on his merry way. In those seconds, all that matters is that he was a killer who was out of control.
I'm a forgiving man, but forgiveness doesn't mean we should not be held to account. I would place money on the defense's argument - stellar military record, no prior bad acts, wonderful individual, credit to his race, never do it again, really sorry, he's learned his lesson, prison won't bring back Trooper Jursevics, why destroy more lives, ... we'll see just how far the cited charges will be reduced.
Per @CSP_News: Traffic Alert: US 285 and Hampden btwn. Kipling and Colorado will be affected due to the procession for Fallen Trooper Jursevics. 9:30-1:00.
" ... Henderson is facing three felony counts -- vehicular homicide while under the influence, hit and run with a death involved and tampering with evidence. He was also charged with two counts of DUI.
Brauchler told Denver7 none of the charges require mandatory prison time, meaning if Henderson is convicted, he could be sentenced to as little as probation only or up to 25.5 years in prison."
I'll be stunned, and it would be a grave injustice, if he didn't serve time in prison for this.
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
CASTLE ROCK, Colo. -- Eric Henderson, the man accused of driving drunk and killing a Colorado State Patrol trooper in November, has reached a plea deal with prosecutors, the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
Henderson will appear in court at the Douglas County Justice Center on Wednesday afternoon to formally enter a guilty plea. He will be sentenced at a later date.
The district attorney's office has not said how much prison time Henderson is facing under the plea. He was looking at more than 25 years if he were to be convicted of all the charges.
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