The Durango Police Department has received a warrant to charge the driver who is accused of causing a head-on accident March 12 on Florida Road.
Brian Strittmatter, 29, will be charged with vehicular assault, a Class 4 felony, with a driving under the influence enhancer, Lt. Ray Shupe with the police department said.
“We still don’t have the results from the blood test,” he said, “but we have enough evidence from what officers on the scene observed to add the DUI charge.”
Strittmatter, who lives in Santa Fe, has agreed to return to Durango to turn himself in, Shupe said. He will have a $10,000 bond.
“He’s been very cooperative with officers to this point,” Shupe said.
In Colorado, a Class 4 felony carries a sentence of two to six years and/or a $2,000 to $500,000 fine. The drunken driving enhancer could add a year or more to the sentence and substantially increase the fine.
The accident occurred at about 8:30 p.m. March 12 when Strittmatter, who was headed into town in a white 2002 Subaru on Florida Road, went across the median near Chapman Hill and hit Mark “Downtown Steve” Brown’s 1993 blue Nissan truck, according to police. Both men were wearing seat belts.
Brown and Strittmatter were transported to Mercy Regional Medical Center, where Brown remains in fair condition as of Wednesday evening.
abutler@durangoherald.com
