Santa Fe Drive Crash: Suspect Driver, Innocent Victims Identified
LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4) - A 20-year-old woman police say was responsible for causing a double fatal crash early Wednesday morning on Santa Fe Drive has been identified. Deanna May Bixby is under arrest at the hospital after leading Douglas County deputies on a chase and then crashing into another car and killing two innocent people.
"This is a tragedy. This is a tragedy on a number of cases," said Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock.
The Arapahoe County Coroner has identified the two people who died as Jayne Frances Davicsin, 25, and Ryan Scott Carter, 27. Both died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash.
The crash happened on Santa Fe Drive at the intersection with Mineral Avenue. At the time, the car Spurlock said was driven by Bixby was being pursued by a deputy. The deputy's cruiser was hundreds of yards behind.
"You see it's on the wrong side of the road, in the wrong lane, then crosses over," said Spurlock.
Spurlock said Bixby was driving extremely erratically. During a Thursday afternoon news conference, he showed video of the Mitsubishi she was driving traveling in the wrong lanes on Santa Fe and reaching speeds of 100 mph or more.
Bixby is in custody on several active warrants. The sheriff said there was a gun in the vehicle she was driving. He said the car was stolen two days earlier out of Adams County.
"We have individuals that come to this county to steal from the people of Douglas County and then put other people's lives in danger -- to include my deputies -- speeding away recklessly. Armed. And then collide with another car that's on the roadway," Spurlock said. "Two people were killed because of that."
Spurlock defended his officer's decision to engage in the pursuit. He said the driver was putting people's lives in danger and in such instances his department's policy is to follow such vehicles in an attempt to stop and arrest them. He said the chase of the Mitsubishi had been going on for approximately 2 minutes before the crash.
"That does not fit within our confines of pursuit. We were trying to catch up to that car and never caught up to that car until after the collision," said Spurlock.
Police are still searching for the criminal who was also leading officers on a different chase at the same time in the same area. That person was originally seen in Castle Pines in a stolen silver Jeep Grand Cherokee that was near the Mitsubishi. The officers who were chasing the Jeep stopped following that car when they got word of the crash at Santa Fe and Mineral.
That Jeep was found by Littleton police officers in a shopping area with a blown out tire, but Spurlock said the driver got away.
