It is unclear whether the woman and her friends asked the driver to end the ride at that location or if the driver kicked them out of the car because she "became ill inside the vehicle," authorities said.
A woman was found dead on the side of Interstate-25 in Colorado less than an hour into the new year after the rideshare she and her friends were traveling in left them on the road, and she was fatally struck by a truck that “never stopped, but continued driving,” authorities said.
The truck’s driver, Adam Wooley, 33, of Frederick, Colorado, was arrested in connection with the hit-and-run death the following day, Thornton Police Department said in a statement. He voluntarily arrived at the police station to speak with investigators, and his vehicle has been impounded, authorities said.
The hit-and-run is Thornton’s fourth major violent incident in the past two weeks, the Denver Gazette reported.
The woman, who was not identified, and her friends had been traveling in a rideshare car when she “became ill inside the vehicle,” according to the statement.
The driver pulled over, the vehicle’s occupants paid for the ride, and the woman and her friends got out of the car, the statement read. The woman walked onto the highway shortly after, according to authorities.
"I saw a woman just standing like on the dotted line in the middle of the road, so I started to slow down,” a woman named Roxy told CBS Colorado.
She, her husband and their kids had been driving home from New Year’s Eve celebrations. “I noticed the truck in front of me wasn't slowing down," she said, according to the outlet.
Her husband Mike added, "He kept going; he didn't slow down or stop at all.”
The woman was then struck, authorities said. Another car then hit her as she was lying on the highway, and pulled over to help her.
The second car, along with the driver of the rideshare who was later contacted, cooperated fully with authorities and do not face charges related to the incident, Thornton police said.
It is unclear whether the driver kicked her out or if she and her friends ended the ride themselves, authorities said, according to the Denver Post.
The woman had either vomited or became nauseous while inside the car, and it’s unclear whether she vomited inside the car or whether the driver pulled over so she could get out and vomit, Thornton Police Officer Jesus Mendez clarified, according to the Denver Post.
He did not specify whether the woman was intoxicated, the outlet reported.
