A 59-year-old man was arrested Wednesday and faces homicide charges after authorities say he was driving under the influence when his Jeep Cherokee struck and killed two Colorado Department of Transportation employees working along U.S. 6 on Sept. 4 in Mesa County.
Patrick Sneddon, of Clifton, faces three counts of vehicular homicide while driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in the crash that killed CDOT workers Trenton “Trent” Umberger and Nathan “Nate” Jones, the Colorado State Patrol said in a news release.
Sneddon’s passenger, Kathi Ann Wallace, from Grand Junction, also died at the scene.
Sneddon also faces a felony for allegedly violating the state’s Move Over Law, which requires drivers to move over a lane or reduce their speed to at least 20 mph below the posted speed limit when driving past a disabled vehicle with hazards activated. He is also accused of weaving.
Investigators with the State Patrol said Sneddon struck the two CDOT workers while they were working outside of their vehicle before hitting their parked CDOT vehicle, which caused the Jeep to roll.
The parked CDOT vehicle, a Ford F-450, was completely off the right side of the road and had its lights and sign board activated, State Patrol said. Umberger and Jones were wearing neon-colored vests and were standing behind the truck removing a sign from the bed.
The last time a CDOT worker was killed while working was in 2020, according to the department. Steven Hagemann died after he was struck and hit by a driver in January and died in March of that year.