Copyright 2006 The Denver Post
All Rights Reserved
By FELISA CARDONA
Denver Post
Two died in crash on I-76. The Rural/Metro operator who hit the left rear of a tractor-trailer as he was trying to pass has been cited four times since 2003 for speeding and other violations.
The driver of the ambulance that crashed near Sterling on Tuesday, killing two people and seriously injuring a pregnant woman on board, has a history of driving violations, records show.
Christopher M. Larusso has been cited four times in Adams County and Denver since 2003 for speeding, driving too close to another vehicle, not wearing a seat belt and other safety violations.
The 22-year-old Westminster man was found guilty on three of those violations: He was not wearing a seat belt in September, and in July he was speeding 20 to 24 mph over the limit and speeding too fast for road conditions. The other two citations were reduced to lesser violations. Larusso could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
A preliminary investigation by the Colorado State Patrol found Larusso hit the left rear of a tractor-trailer as he was trying to pass. Larusso and the driver of the semi were traveling in the right lanes heading west on Interstate 76 about 18 miles west of Sterling at the time of the crash.
The State Patrol has not made any decision on whether to cite Larusso, Trooper Eric Wynn said.
Larusso’s employer, Rural/Metro Ambulance, said annual checks are conducted of their ambulance drivers’ traffic records. The last check on Larusso was completed March 7, a company spokesman said.
“Upon hiring and on an annual basis, we run a driver’s record check for employees and have certain standards of insurability, and if certain drivers are not insurable, they would not be able to operate our vehicles,” said spokesman David Patterson.
Employees who receive a citation or are involved in an accident are required to notify Rural/Metro Ambulance immediately, he said.
Patterson said some speeding tickets may not necessarily preclude an employee from driving an ambulance.
He could not comment specifically on Larusso’s record or what the company knew about his traffic violations because Larusso’s records were not accessible to Patterson on Wednesday, he said.
One of those injured in the crash, Kelsey Schlichenmayer of Burlington, was upgraded from critical to serious condition after giving birth to a son at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood. She was flown there after the accident. Her son also was listed as serious, but hospital officials said he was doing well.
Karen Woods, a 43-year-old paramedic from Elizabeth, and Schlichenmayer’s sister-in-law, Vicki Thomas, age and hometown unavailable, were killed.
Thomas was traveling with Schlichenmayer from Ogallala, Neb., to University Hospital in Denver because of complications related to her pregnancy.
Thomas was the wife of Schlichenmayer’s brother, and the two were “very close,” said hospital spokeswoman Julie Lonborg. Early reports erroneously identified Thomas as Schlichenmayer’s mother.
Larusso and Dan Beza, 31, of Centennial, a passenger in the ambulance, were taken to Sterling Regional Medical Center, treated and released.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Plamen Zelyamov of Chicago, wasn’t injured.
Mark Schlichenmayer declined to be interviewed because he wanted to focus on the recovery of his wife and newborn son. He simply said he was “thankful to the community, especially those in Burlington, Colo., and Goodland, Kan., for their thoughts and prayers.”