Two motorists and a pedestrian were injured in Sunday night crashes across Denver, police said.
The Denver Police Department posted about the first crash involving a car and a pedestrian at S. Federal Boulevard and W. Florida Avenue, on the edge of the city’s Mar Lee and Ruby Hill neighborhoods, at 7:40 p.m. Sunday.
Paramedics took the pedestrian to the hospital with serious injuries, police said. Additional information about the crash, including whether the pedestrian was in a crosswalk, was not immediately available Monday morning.
The second crash involved three drivers near S. Forest Street and Leetsdale Drive in Denver’s Washington Virginia Vale neighborhood, about 9 miles east of the first crash, police said at 7:47 p.m. Sunday.
Paramedics took two people to the hospital with serious injuries, police said.
The cause of both crashes remained under investigation on Monday.
Two people were killed in separate crashes in metro Denver overnight, including a cyclist in Boulder County, police officials said.
The Boulder County cyclist was killed in a crash at 7:41 p.m. Friday near U.S. 287 and County Road 4, the State Patrol said in a news release.
The crash involved a 50-year-old man driving a 2006 Honda SUV. The cyclist, who was in his mid-20s, was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators are still looking into what caused the crash, which closed southbound U.S. 287 on Friday night, the State Patrol said.
Several hours later, Denver police responded to a fatal hit-and-run crash after a driver hit a pedestrian near 26th Avenue and Federal Boulevard, the agency said on social media at 10:29 p.m.
The Denver Police Department initially reported the crash involved a motorcycle rider, but clarified on Saturday afternoon that the victim was a pedestrian.
The crash closed Federal Boulevard in both directions. Anyone with information about the suspect or their vehicle can contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
One person died and four others were injured in hit-and-run crashes across Denver between Saturday and Monday, according to the police department.
A bicyclist was hit in the 4800 block of West 14th Avenue, near Yates Street, at about 1:34 a.m. Saturday. Police announced Monday that the unidentified victim had died at the hospital.
Investigators are searching for a larger, dark-colored sport utility vehicle, according to a crime alert. The vehicle may have damage to the front bumper and undercarriage.
That crash happened near the intersection of 18th Street and Welton Street, and a Nissan Murano SUV was spotted fleeing the scene, according to a crime alert.
No hit-and-run crashes were reported Sunday, but two more people were injured on Labor Day in Denver.
A bicyclist was injured in a hit-and-run near 40th and Walnut streets Monday evening, according to a 7:26 p.m. post from the Denver Police Department. Paramedics took the bicyclist to the hospital with serious injuries.
Another person was injured earlier that morning in a hit-and-run that temporarily shut down northbound Federal Boulevard at Sixth Avenue, police said at 5:04 a.m. Monday.
Police said the unknown driver fled the scene on foot after hitting an unidentified motorist, but it’s unclear if the driver was found or arrested.
Anyone with information on any of the hit-and-run crashes is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
Traffic moves along South Federal Boulevard in Denver on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. The Colorado Department of Transportation intends to convert one of the three southbound lanes, seen here at right, to a bus lane, and widen the road to add a northbound bus lane, seen at left.
Nathaniel Minor/CPR News
The Colorado Department of Transportation wants to widen over two miles of South Federal Boulevard to make space for bus lanes.
Project leaders say the extra space will be needed to preserve two vehicle lanes in each direction on a busy stretch of Federal. Cutting the road down to one lane would send too many drivers onto side streets, they say.
“There are places where traffic calming through road diets and otherwise is the best option,” said CDOT Executive Director Shoshana Lew, adding: “But that’s not always the answer.”
But some bus riders, advocates and at least one member of the Denver City Council worry the changes would make Federal Boulevard even more dangerous than it already is.
The new bus lanes are a key part of a planned bus rapid transit line along nearly 18 miles of Federal.
Several bus rapid transit lines are planned on arterial streets across the Denver metro that, like Federal, double as state highways.
Unlike local buses, the rapid routes — known as BRT lines — are generally designed for speed and comfort. They typically stop at amenity-rich stations that are spaced further apart, buses are given priority at intersections, and passengers can board through any of the vehicle’s doors.
In some cases, buses also get their own lanes. Bus lanes are often the most controversial part of a BRT project because they have the greatest potential to disrupt the status quo on busy, dangerous roads.
Drivers cross 8th Avenue on Federal Boulevard. May 8, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
CDOT’s preferred plan for Federal, if it can find the money for it, would split the difference between a road diet that would surely make motorists fume and a full-bore expansion of the road.
Under a developing plan that CDOT officials stressed isn’t yet final, the agency would convert one of the three southbound vehicle lanes between Alameda and Jewell avenues to a bus lane. CDOT would use mostly existing right-of-way to widen the road just enough to accommodate a new northbound bus lane over roughly the same length. The road would be widened between Evans and Jewell avenues for bus lanes in each direction.
Bus riders worry a wider Federal will be more dangerous.
A Denverite reporter roamed South Federal for a few hours on Monday morning and spoke with a handful of bus riders about the prospect of a wider road.
“I think it’d be a bad idea,” said Kelly Faison as she prepared to board an RTD bus on south Federal on Monday. “[It would] probably be more dangerous.”
Many riders declined to be recorded and refused to give their names, but nearly all said safety was a top concern.
“Wider lanes just means more time that it would take for a pedestrian to cross, and they’re already being run over,” said Carolyn, an elderly woman who declined to give her last name but said she walked across Federal often.
Carolyn said she tries to look in “every direction the whole time that I’m crossing because somebody act like they want to run me down even as I have the light.”
Denver planners have long identified South Federal as one of the most dangerous corridors in the city. Its recent Vision Zero action plan called for “immediate remedial safety work” on it, saying the stretch between Alameda and Yale saw eight traffic-related deaths between 2016 and 2021.
Jamie Torres, the city councilor who represents some neighborhoods along Federal, said she is “totally against” widening the boulevard — even for the addition of bus lanes.
“I think residents are exactly on point around how difficult it is already to cross a six-lane highway,” Torres said.
Then-City Council president Jamie Torres attends council’s weekly working group meeting with Mayor Mike Johnston’ administration on homelessness and migrant arrivals. Dec. 12, 2023.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Ryan Noles, CDOT’s bus rapid transit program manager, said they are also considering new safety features for pedestrians — rebuilt sidewalks, signals timed to give walkers more time to cross, and mid-block crossings, for example.
Jill Locantore, executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership, called such changes “helpful but marginal.” The root problem, she said, is Federal’s width.
“Because that encourages drivers to go faster and just increases pedestrian exposure to traffic,” Locantore said.
Locantore wants planners to go all-in on buses, like they are on Colfax.
The Denver-led East Colfax BRT project will narrow the road to just one vehicle lane in each direction from Broadway to the Aurora border.
“If it can work on Colfax, why can’t it work on Federal?” Locantore asked,
A rendering of a possible bus rapid transit design on Colfax. (Denver Public Works)
But there are significant differences between the two roads. Colfax is a denser, more walkable corridor that was originally built around streetcars. Large parking lots and low-slung commercial buildings are far more common on Federal.
State data says Colfax sees less traffic on its soon-to-be-slimmer stretch, peaking at 30,000 vehicles a day near East High School, than the segment of Federal in question which tops out at 40,000 vehicles daily. The federal government says road diets typically are implemented on roads with daily traffic of 25,000 vehicles or fewer.
Mimi Luong, who owns Truong An Gifts in the Far East Center, said she’s supportive of better bus service on Federal — she’s suggested new Asian-themed bus stations too. She just visited South Korea and loved using the bus system there.
But she said Federal needs to stay at least two lanes across.
Mimi Luong stands in front of a Lunar New Year banner hanging on her family’s Truong An Gifts shop in the Far East Center as they prepare for the big holiday weekend. Feb. 8, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“Honestly, this is Colorado,” she said, adding: “You need a car for everywhere you go.”
Torres said the idea of a one-lane Federal Boulevard seemed “pretty limited,” but said CDOT’s have-it-both-ways proposal makes it seem like they aren’t confident in BRT’s ability to shift drivers to transit riders.
“It seems like we don’t quite know that BRT will work or not,” Torres said.
Lew, CDOT’s executive director, said her goal is to give travelers “as many safe sustainable choices as possible.” What CDOT eventually does with Federal will also be determined by how much money the federal government pitches in, Lew added.
The Columbine Steak House & Lounge on Federal Boulevard. July 24, 2024.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Over the past few days, Denver foodies have been sounding the alarm — the longstanding Columbine Steakhouse and Lounge at 3rd Avenue and Federal Boulevard had been burglarized.
The unpretentious steakhouse has been in business since 1961. Restaurant owner Irene Apergis said people like it because “It’s nothing fancy. It’s a down-to-earth, hole-in-the-wall steakhouse. But it’s very good stakes, very good prices.”
And over the past few years, Columbine has been the victim of not one, not two, but three break-ins.
The most peculiar part? The thieves only took steaks. No beer, no booze, no money. Just steaks.
“They took a couple of trays of T-bone,” Apergis said, “They took New Yorks, they took filets. They took a tray of the sirloins, and I think they took four bags of porterhouse…I would say at least 250 pieces.”
The back of the Columbine Steak House & Lounge, where burglars apparently used a car to break inside and steal a tray of steaks. July 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
A sign on the Columbine Steak House & Lounge states a burglarly forced them to close. July 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Apergis said burglars broke in around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday and she became aware of the situation around 7:30 a.m. when an employee arrived for their opening shift.
“The whole wall in the kitchen was completely demolished,” Apergis told Denverite. “The door was demolished and water was all over the place.”
Apergis says this is the third time steaks have been stolen. But this burglary was different.
“This time they caused a big disaster,” she said. “They broke the pipes. We had a leak in the gas line, the whole walll is down.”
She suspects that all three burglaries have been carried out by the same perpetrators. She also thinks she may have angered whoever is behind these crimes.
Irene Apergis, whose father opened the Columbine Steak House & Lounge on Federal Boulevard in 1961, sits in her famiy’s business after a burglary forced her to close. July 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“The first few times they did it, they came through the door with a crowbar,” Apergis explained. She said to stop this, she put a metal seam on the crease as a safety precaution.
“I think because I put that safety precaution and they couldn’t get in as easy as they did last time,” Apergis said, “they just tore the whole wall down.” She said she thinks they did it out of spite.
She said she and her brother, who runs the restaurant with her, are thinking about installing balusters. She knows balusters won’t prevent burglaries, but hopes they’ll at least prevent a truck from busting into the restaurant.
These burglaries are taking their toll.
“Our Budweiser man told us that there was like four breakages in the restaurants in our area,” Apergis said.
After a lifetime of working in her family restaurant, things like this make her tired of the grind.
“All my life, I’ve been here,” she explained. She said her daughter and her niece also work at the restaurant. “But I don’t want them to do it. I really don’t. It owns you. The business owns you. You don’t own it. You know what I mean?”
The Columbine Steak House & Lounge on Federal Boulevard. July 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Steak service will be back as soon as possible.
Apergis said she’s going to have all of her employees give the restaurant a good cleanup on Thursday, with the hope that the Columbine Steakhouse and Lounge can reopen on Friday or Saturday.
“The walls are not going to be fixed yet,” Apergis warns. “I just have the temporary wood that the restoration company fixed for me so we could close it up.”
For all who love the Columbine Steakhouse and Lounge, you’re what keeps Apergis going.
“It’s really nice that we got the support,” she said.
Eastbound U.S. 6 is closed at Federal Boulevard after a man fell from an overpass and died, according to the Denver Police Department.
Officers responded to a call about an adult man who jumped or fell from an overpass onto 6th Avenue at 5:25 p.m., said spokesperson Katherine McCandless.
The Colorado Department of Transportation posted about the road closure at 5:33 p.m., citing police activity.
The internet wasn’t quite a thing when AJ Ritual was growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
To find people like him, who were into dark aesthetics and darker music, he had to go eat breakfast food after dark.
“Denny’s was our go-to,” he remembered. “That’s where, before cell phones and TikTok and all that, that was basically our way to meet new people that have similar interests as we do. And that was literally the only place we were able to go to meet people.”
Then, his reality was reflected back to him on TV. “South Park”‘s famous goth kids, whose styles echoed those worn by The Cure and were often found smoking outside their elementary school, were known to visit a suspiciously similar restaurant called Benny’s late at night.
(Here’s the clip. Fair warning, it includes crass language.)
So when his company, Ritual Noize, booked a show on Federal Boulevard across the street from a Denny’s on Sunday, he knew what he had to do.
Raedyn Gohringer and Skyy Evans attend a “goth takeover” of the Federal Boulevard Denny’s. March 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“Why don’t we do a takeover?” he thought.
Once Combichrist‘s “Only Death Is Immortal Tour” concluded at Kulture Music Hall, the black-clad, dark-eyelined audience descended upon the greasy spoon for a “goth takeover.”
But what started off as a nostalgic joke turned into something pretty sweet: a multigenerational meeting of people long bonded by a love of darkness.
What does ‘goth’ mean, anyway?
You probably have an idea if you went to an American high school, but it’s trickier than you might expect.
Courtney Kolva, who got into the culture when she was a student in the ’80s and ’90s, said the word was more often a label people put on kids like her, who maybe didn’t quite fit into the mainstream.
“For a long time, we wouldn’t use the term ‘goth.’ But we’ve kind of grown into it,” she told us. “But it’s a reluctant acceptance, and it’s the easiest label.”
Zach Wager, “head butcher” of the band Dead Animal Assembly Plant, croons during his set at Kulture Music Hall.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
TREASVRE vocalist Samantha Peña plays Kulture Music Hall during Combichrist’s “Only Death Is Immortal Tour.” Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Ritual said he also generally resists the word, though it seemed appropriate for the takeover event.
“When someone puts you in the goth box, that kind of destroys all creativity, because we’re so much more than just a goth company,” he said. “We don’t like being put in boxes, because we’re far too creative to just have one genre of music or style or fashion or whatever.”
Elliott Berlin, bass and keyboard player for Combichrist, laughed when we asked him.
Combichrist bass and keyboard player Elliott Berlin tosses his head as he pays Federal Boulevard’s Kulture Music Hall. March 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“It’s like asking for a description of what is funk,” he giggled. “I guess dark aesthetics and electronically orientated gravitation in the music?”
“Generally kids who wear black, adults who wear black?” guitarist and bandmate Jamie Cronander added before they donned their makeup for the night. “I don’t feel like there’s any real rules to it.”
Others we spoke to mentioned goth music’s roots in punk, which means it’s inherently a little political. But everyone said the culture transcends any one aspect. You just know it when you feel it.
Zach Wager, “head butcher” of the band Dead Animal Assembly Plant, croons during his set in Combichrist’s “Only Death Is Immortal Tour” at Federal Boulevard’s Kulture Music Hall. March 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
And for a lot of them, who got into goth’s trappings when they were young, it was never something to grow out of.
“It’s not a phase. It really isn’t. It’s who we are,” Kolva said. “We just like to look like this. We like to listen to the music. We like to hang out with our friends and do everything that everyone else does.”
For her part, Kolva has kind of embraced the label. She’s now part of the Colorado Goth Society, a collective that plans outings to cemeteries and puts on an annual Goth Prom.
Definitions aside, one thing was clear: Goths of past, present and future loved having a place to gather.
Ritual worried the takeover would be a bust, since heavy snow made the city a rather undesirable place to venture into on Sunday.
But he was wrong: Denny’s filled with people, many who didn’t even go to the show.
Nick Peril and Vesper Rothschild attend Combichrist’s “Only Death Is Immortal Tour.”Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Joell Jansson and Dean Steusloff drove up from Colorado Springs to see Combichrist.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“I’m not gonna lie. I saw some of my friends posted it on Instagram, the flyer for it, and I was like, ‘Sounds fun. Come eat. Meet people,’” Jameson Stirling, a North High student, told us as he and his friends waited for a midnight snack.
Though a lot of the younger goths in the room didn’t see Ritual’s concert, this Denny’s was already a regular spot for many, who come here after shows at the nearby 7th Circle Music Collective and D3 Arts venues.
Aurora Williamson, who shared the table with Stirling, said she liked seeing so many likeminded people in the room. While she knows society hasn’t always been accepting of their style, she said things have changed in recent years. People have been bullied less for wearing black as the culture has bled more into popular culture.
Noah Maxey (left to right), Iris Camara, Aurora Williamson, KJ Martinez and Jameson Stirling.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Veteran goths Bob (left to right), Courtney Kolva, Jon Taugher, Christopher Smith and Mimi Johannes.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
“It’s just now becoming bigger, more inclusive,” she said. “People are becoming a little more proud of it.”
Denver may be an extra-inclusive place for this, too. Both Combichrist’s Berlin and Cronander said they always love swinging through town.
“Denver is always one of the best shows on the tour. Great crowd, good people, fun city to be in,” Cronander told us. “I’ve never had a bad show in Denver.”
Part of the reason, he said, is a dedicated promotor like Ritual who helps hold the scene together. Ritual said there’s just a lot of fans here, and others who drive from towns that bands rarely visit.
The crowd raises horned fists into the air during Cultus Black’s set in Combichrist’s “Only Death Is Immortal Tour” at Federal Boulevard’s Kulture Music Hall. March 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
And while Ritual was too busy closing down the venue to make it across the street for his own event, he said creating that space was as important as giving the touring musicians a place to land. So often, this crowd only comes together in loud nightclubs.
“We rarely have a chance to just sit down and talk to people, so this also builds the community as well,” he said. “Those types of events are cool, just because you can actually talk to people and get that connection and not just have the crazy music.”
Ritual Noize founder AJ Ritual watches Dead Animal Assembly Plant play Combichrist’s “Only Death Is Immortal Tour” at Federal Boulevard’s Kulture Music Hall. March 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
Jesse Warner, who also missed the concert but found his way into Dennys on Sunday, said he felt that pull to celebrate his comrades in darkness.
“We love the makeup, we love the death, we love the bands, we love the vibe, everything,” he told us. “I love who I am. I love the beliefs that I have, I love the beliefs that everyone in my group has–”
“And we love Denny’s,” his friend, Skyy Evans, interjected.
“And we love Denny’s,” Warner said.
Jesse Warner (left) and Vinny Shock attend a “goth takeover” of the Federal Boulevard Denny’s. March 24, 2024.Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
A person was shot by Denver police after allegedly stabbing a clerk at a 7-Eleven near West Fifth Avenue and North Federal Boulevard on Friday night.
Officers responded to reports of a 7-Eleven store clerk who had been stabbed and found a suspect near West Fifth Avenue and North Federal Boulevard at approximately 6:49 p.m., police spokesperson Kurt Barnes said Friday.
The suspect was shot by police and taken to a local hospital, Barnes said. It’s not clear if the suspect was armed with a gun.
A fistfight between two Excel Academy students escalated into a shooting this week, sending people running for cover and setting neighbors around the Denver public high school on edge.
The fight-turned-shooting happened at around 12:15 p.m. Monday in the 3100 block of West Colorado Avenue, around the corner from Excel Academy, a pathway school that is designed to help students who are behind on credits get back on track for graduation.
Two students and their families were involved in the fight, Principal Cynthia Navarro wrote in a letter to parents Monday.
“At no point were our students or staff inside the building ever in danger,” she wrote.
The shooting comes as Denver Public Schools faces increased public scrutiny over its handling of gun violence among students, particularly in the wake of last year’s shooting at East High School in which a 17-year-old student wounded two school administrators.
People who live near Excel Academy said during a Denver Police Department neighborhood meeting Wednesday that they’ve raised concerns about the school for years — particularly around nuisance issues like students parking across driveways, littering or drag racing in the streets — and questioned whether school officials were doing enough to protect students and residents.
On Monday, two young women met in the street to fight while a crowd of about a dozen people watched, according to video of the incident reviewed by The Denver Post. Most appeared to be high-school-aged, but there were at least two adults in the mix, said Cyan Santillana, who witnessed the fight. One of the adults was encouraging the fight, she said.
After a couple of minutes of fighting, at least one of the people watching drew a gun and fired shots, the video shows. The crowd scattered, with people diving behind cars or into alleys for cover. A single adult man was shot in the incident and survived, Denver police said.
No arrests had been made by Wednesday and police did not answer questions about the man’s condition or about the shooting.
Fights in the neighborhood, which abuts Federal Boulevard, are not entirely uncommon, Santillana said, but this was the first time she could remember shots being fired.
“It’s getting to the point where something definitely needs to be done now,” she said. “There are kids in this neighborhood, there is an elementary school right down the street, and there was this active shooting right in front of the houses.”
She added that most of the 250 students at Excel Academy don’t cause problems, but that the small group who do “give the school a bad rap.” One student just happened to be walking by when the shooting happened and had to run for cover, Santillana said.
The shooting took place during the school’s lunch hour, when many students were out of the building enjoying warm weather, said Scott Pribble, spokesman for Denver Public Schools. The fight prompted a 20-minute “secure perimeter” at the school, during which staff and students stayed inside and locked exterior doors, Navarro said in the letter to parents.
Pribble said there’s no indication that any of the involved students had a gun on school grounds before the shooting happened. He declined to discuss whether the involved students faced discipline like suspension or expulsion, adding that the disciplinary process takes time.
Between 2018 and April 2023, Denver police responded to 59 incidents involving guns at 31 Denver public schools, data provided by the police department shows. About half of those incidents involved possession of a gun, and just over a quarter involved menacing. Only three incidents were considered aggravated assaults involving a firearm, according to the data.
None of the 59 gun-related incidents happened at Excel Academy, the data shows.
The school with the highest number of police responses to incidents involving guns was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early College in Green Valley Ranch, with five police responses. Police handled three incidents at East High School during the more than five-year span, including the March school shooting.
Denver police allege the boy shot and killed Richard Sanchez on a bus near South Federal Boulevard and West Mississippi Avenue on the evening of Jan. 27 because Sanchez’s leg was blocking the aisle.
Sanchez was pronounced dead at a local hospital due to multiple gunshot wounds. A second person on the bus was also injured but was not taken to the hospital.
The boy was arrested on Feb. 1 and is facing 14 charges including first-degree murder, Denver District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Maro Casparian said Wednesday.
Prosecutors consider many factors when deciding whether to pursue trying a juvenile as an adult, according to a statement from the district attorney’s office.
Those include the circumstances of the crime, the suspect’s age, what contact they’ve had with the juvenile system, their upbringing and background, provisions of the law and the perspective of the victim or victim’s family.
“We balance the need for punishment with the opportunity to rehabilitate the juvenile. We are now in the process of making the decision in the case of the 13-year-old,” the DA’s office said in a statement.
A preliminary hearing in the case is set for March 8.
