Deputy DA tried in vain to keep motorist in jail

Wheat Ridge man now suspect in double fatality

Ellen Miller, Julie Poppen And Marilyn Robinson, Rocky Mountain News

Published March 24, 2007 at midnight

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GRAND JUNCTION - A Park County prosecutor tried last month to keep in jail a driver who is now suspected in a high-speed crash that killed two college students.

"I thought he was a clear and present danger to the motoring public," Deputy District Attorney Martin Kenney, of Fairplay, said Friday.

On Thursday night, police say, Patrick Strawmatt killed two 19-year-old Mesa State College freshmen as he drove 120 mph from a pursuing Colorado State Patrol trooper.

Strawmatt, a former Lafayette police officer, was driving erratically when troopers attempted to pull him over about 10 p.m. Thursday.

He made an obscene hand gesture and raced away, slamming into a compact car carrying two students, Jennifer Kois, of Brighton, and Jacob Brock, of Eagle.

As firefighters worked to pull Strawmatt from his SUV, he swore and spit at them, Trooper Ron Greasley said.

Strawmatt was ordered held on $1 million bail Friday, as District Attorney Pete Hautzinger contemplated the possibility of adding first-degree murder charges to counts of vehicular homicide and DUI.

A Wheat Ridge resident, Strawmatt, 42, has a lengthy criminal record, but he was able to get out of jail the day after his Park County arrest last month because his bail was set at $15,000.

Park County chase

Strawmatt was charged in February with ramming the patrol car of Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener and punching the sheriff in the face after a high-speed chase. Wegener said Strawmatt was drunk.

Strawmatt was arrested Feb. 15 in Park County and faced multiple charges, including vehicular eluding, assault on a peace officer and DUI, court records indicate.

"I used to be a (state) trooper, and this was very disturbing," Kenney said. "He took on three uniformed officers, rammed the sheriff's car and punched the sheriff."

Kenney said he recited Strawmatt's extensive criminal record at the man's bond hearing, but was unable to persuade Magistrate Larry Allen to deviate from the bond schedule. Allen could not be reached for comment Friday.

Wegener said Friday that the chase began when deputies checked on reports of a drunken driver.

"It was a high-speed chase, and we tried to pull him over," Wegener said. "I was able to pull in front of him and slowed him down and eventually stopped, and he rammed into the rear of my patrol car.

"It took three of us to get him out of the vehicle."

Police career

Strawmatt was hired as a police officer in Lafayette on Jan. 7, 1987.

Within 18 months, he earned "senior police officer" status, which meant he was doing his job according to expectations, said Penny Ford, who works in the city's human resources office. He resigned on Nov. 30, 1994.

Leo Carrillo, who was the police chief in Lafayette during Strawmatt's time with the department, said Strawmatt "didn't cause us any problems."

He worked in patrol, Carrillo said. He left of his own accord and was not fired. Ten years after leaving the department, Strawmatt was arrested for cruelty to animals, burglary and other charges, beginning a string of at least nine arrests, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records.

According to court records, a temporary restraining order was filed against him in February 2005 in connection with a domestic violence case in Littleton. The restraining order was vacated in March 2005.

In December 2005, Strawmatt pleaded guilty to aggravated cruelty to animals. He was sentenced to three years of probation in Jefferson County District Court. He also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor harassment charge.

At Mesa State College in Grand Junction, students grieved, and counselors were called in to help Friday, said Shannon Robinson, president of the school's Associated Student Government.

Robinson, 38, the mother of an 18-year-old and two younger children, said the circumstances of the students' deaths are senseless.

"This infuriates me," she said. "He shouldn't have been released to endanger people."

ellenmiller@acsol.net; poppenj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5176

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