ROARING FORK BROADCASTING COMPANY
An Aspen woman was killed Saturday night after a vehicle heading eastbound on Highway 82 struck her and left the crash site before returning to it as police were investigating the scene, authorities said.
The woman was on foot when a vehicle on Highway 82 and in the proximity of her Aspen Country Inn residence hit her, according to a statement the Aspen Police Department issued Sunday.
The victim was Lisa Sabatka, 33, the Aspen Daily News confirmed through court records and friends of the victim. The Aspen Police Department declined to release her identity Sunday afternoon.
A Pitkin County sheriff’s deputy who was in the area initially saw the woman lying on the highway median as Aspen police, responding to a call at approximately 11 p.m., were en route to the scene.
Law enforcement authorities inspecting the scene determined that the woman, who was transported to Aspen Valley Hospital where she was pronounced dead, was hit by an eastbound vehicle.
During the investigation, the driver of the vehicle that struck the woman pulled up to the crash site. Police questioned the driver, a 20-year-old Roaring Fork Valley woman, but did not charge her.
“The driver of that vehicle identified herself as having been involved in the crash,” the news release said, adding that “the case remains under investigation and no further information will be provided at this time.”
Fleeing the scene of an accident, regardless of such aggravating factors as alcohol and drugs, is a crime in Colorado, where drivers must report the crash to police and call for emergency aid if needed. A class 3 felony hit-and-run offense applies when at least one fatality occurs. Severe injuries to at least one victim of a hit-and-run is a class 5 felony.
Additional details in court records say the driver admitted to Aspen Police Officer Sarah Freihon, who was on the scene, “to driving and striking a shadowy dark figure in the road at the location of the crash.”
The woman told the officer she had not consumed alcohol but had taken four medicine cups of NyQuil in the last three hours, said a statement of facts from APD investigator Ritchie Zah. NyQuil, a sleep aid and cold medicine, is an antihistamine and contains alcohol. The Daily News received the court documents independently from the APD.
“Additionally, NyQuil contains dextromethorphan which is an analgesic,” Zah’s statement says.
The woman told police that she swerved after the impact, stopped nearby and left toward Aspen after not seeing anything. After picking up her boyfriend in Aspen, they headed on Highway 82 in the downvalley direction, crossing Maroon Creek Bridge and seeing police at the scene. She decided to pull over and to tell them what happened, the statement says.
Zah's statement is part of an application for what’s called a “blood search warrant” allowing police to draw the driver’s blood for testing. The driver admitted to being drowsy but refused to take a voluntary field sobriety test and a preliminary blood test, said the application. Authorities are now awaiting the results of tests of the blood that was drawn following the warrant's filing.
“I believe that the blood in (the driver’s) body is evidence of driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor and or drugs for the reasons as stated above in Officer Freihon’s testimony. Further, I believe that it is necessary to obtain this evidence immediately as the evidence requested is of a perishable nature and a time delay would render it useless for the investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs,” Zah’s warrant application adds.