Police Arrest Suspect In Hit & Run At Colfax Bus Stop
DENVER (CBS4) - Denver police on Wednesday made an arrest in a hit-and-run that injured three people at a crowded bus stop on East Colfax Avenue.
Police said the car that plowed into the bus stop at Colfax and Josephine Street was not stolen and did not belong to the suspect who ran away on foot. CBS4 was on hand when Mark Skipper, 53, was arrested. Police aren't releasing Skipper's mug shot in order to perform a lineup for witnesses.
Police said a tip led to Skipper's arrest.
The crash occurred Tuesday afternoon. After the car jumped the curb it hit three people and pinned one man between the car and bus bench.
"One leg was folded over the car and the other leg had a piece of bench through it and both of his legs I believe were broken," said witness Heidi Vandergreen.
"He flew 5 or 6 feet and was laying on sidewalk and people were giving him water," witness Bruce Peterson said.
As witnesses rushed to help the victims, others ran after the driver, even snapping pictures of him running away. Another witness took cellphone video as someone tried to confront the driver.
There are also several surveillance videos from nearby businesses of the suspect who police confirm was driving the Saab station wagon. In one video the alleged driver could be seen dashing through an alley with someone running after him. In another video the suspect can be seen going around a corner, first walking and then running past the camera.
CBS4 was present when Skipper was put into handcuffs at a Denver apartment, and a woman from the apartment he came from was talking to police and then left with them.
"He's a street person who used to go over and visit her," neighbor Alan Figmond said about the suspect who was attempted to enter the locked apartment complex.
Initial police reports indicate a woman called officers saying she had the hit-and-run suspect in her home.
"I saw him down there looking up at me and I didn't let him in," neighbor Bruce Hahn said.
Of the three victims, two have been released from the hospital. The third man with worst injures, identified as John Shoeboot, was last listed in serious condition at Denver Health Medical Center. His sister says he's in good spirits and just thankful the crash didn't take his life.
"It happened so fast he said. He didn't really hardly see it coming, just felt all the pain from the impact," Shoeboot's sister Deborah Paige said. "He's just thanking God he's alive, that's all he's doing is just thanking God."
