JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — Witnesses spoke to FOX31 as the search continues for a driver who is believed to have intentionally hit two cyclists, severely hurting them.
James Carrino was driving to Home Depot on Sunday morning around 10 a.m. when he suddenly found himself witnessing two cyclists get hit by a car and left for dead.
“It is just unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” Carrino said.
‘It’s like she was almost planning it’
Carrino was driving directly behind the car involved in this hit and run. Police say they are searching for the driver of that car, Alan “Haley” Mill.
“The way she sat at the stop sign down there, it’s like she was almost planning it,” Carrino said. “She sat at the stop sign and waited for these bicyclists to pass her. And then when she pulled out, it all happened in three seconds. It went from a normal morning to just chaos.”
One of the two cyclists hit has been identified by her family as 61-year-old Lisa Ludwig. Ludwig was seriously hurt. Her family said she is in now stable condition but is still unresponsive.
Carrino watched Ludwig and another man get hit. He said he then tried to go after the driver to get their license plate.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. You know, these people, they were hit from behind,” Carrino said. “They didn’t even have the chance to try to jump out of the way. It was like they never seen it coming.”
From Carrino’s vantage point, he’s confident this was deliberate.
“The way she aimed her car at these people and accelerated, it was it didn’t look like an accident,” Carrino said. “And the way she tried to flee the scene, she was definitely going to try to get out of here. And I don’t think she cared how many more people she had to run down to do it.”
Cyclist in group witnessed driver’s getaway
Another cyclist in the group, Kurt Jenney, said he was almost hit in the driver’s getaway mission. He was cycling about 50 yards ahead of the two victims.
“The next thing I knew, the SUV in question was speeding past me and maybe 60 or 70 miles an hour with a bike lodged between it and the ground, and you could hear the splintering carbon fiber just scraping into the pavement,” Jenney said.
Jenney said he starts shaking thinking about it because his family was forever changed from a cycling crash as well.
“I had a similar experience with my father a couple of years ago. He was permanently disabled, was rear-ended at 60 miles an hour on his bicycle as well. But luckily, that time wasn’t intentional,” Jenney said. “I think the reason that this hit me really hard was just the thought that, no, this was intentional and, you know, someone could have that much malicious intent.”
“I hope they find her soon because, you know, she needs to pay for what she did,” Carrino said.
Suspect at large in cycling hit-and-run
On Monday evening, investigators said they found Mill’s 2018 gray Ford Escape with temporary Colorado plate 2959061. It was located in the 4400 block of South Zinnia Street.
“The vehicle was called in by a resident of the neighborhood and is believed to have been abandoned there overnight. The driver is still at large,” the Jeffco Sheriff’s Office said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office tip line at 303-271-5612 or Denver Metro Crime Stoppers at 720-913-STOP (7867); reference case number 22-10305.