AURORA | A man suspected of DUI and running a red light crashed into another car Sunday night, ejecting and killing the other driver’s passenger, Aurora police say.

Police responded to the crash at the intersection of East Alameda Avenue and South Potomac Street at about 8:40 p.m., according to an Aurora Police Department news release.

Investigators determined that the Infiniti sedan driven by Damian Sanchez-Balderas, 19, of Denver ran a red light while traveling east on Alameda and collided with a Ford Focus that was making a protected left turn south onto Potomac.

Damien Sanchez-Balderas (Aurora Police Department)

The male driver of the Ford was uninjured, but his female passenger was thrown from the car and died at the scene. Sanchez-Balderas lost control of his vehicle after the crash and struck a signal pole at the southeast corner of the intersection.

Police said the victim will be identified by the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office. The woman is the fifth person to die in a traffic collision in Aurora this year.

Sanchez-Balderas was taken to a local hospital with minor injuries and faces charges of vehicular homicide, DUI, reckless driving and driving with a revoked license as a habitual traffic offender.

Police reports “said that he refused a breath test,” according to Aurora police spokesman Matthew Longshore, but blood was drawn for a blood-alcohol level assessment.

“Those results won’t be known for some time,” Longshore said.

Members of the public who witnessed the crash or have relevant information and have yet to speak to investigators are encouraged to contact law enforcement at 720-913-7867.

9 replies on “Suspected intoxicated driver runs red light, kills woman in central Aurora”

  1. This kind of lawlessness in Aurora must end! A repeat offender should not be on the streets, killing others. Vehicular homicide? No. This driver made a conscious decision to operate a vehicle while apparently impaired. I can only hope he is not one of thousands of unlicensed, uninsured, disrespectful people that believe laws can be disregarded.

  3. Another innocent murdered by scum who should’t even be in this country. When will Americans finally have enough and snap…

    1. “Illegal” immigrants commit are less likely to commit crimes, be convicted of crimes, or be incarcerated for criminal activities than are native-born American citizens.

      1. Gee, Jeff, here’s one of those deaths from alcohol-related causes that your side seems to lovingly ignore. When are you going to call for “common sense alcohol control” to prevent these deaths?

  4. Was the deceased not wearing seat-belts?
    Alwaysober, I could have made a mistake and proceeded through a red signal and caused the same collision.
    Also blame who was not wearing seatbelts for what could have been a human error.

    1. Why does it matter if she was wearing a seatbelt???? It wasn’t her fault this guy decided to drink and drive, and speed at 100+ down a side street and crash.

      1. If no seat-belts worn, her fault for failing to try to protect herselfrom a drunken driver or goodriver making a human error.
        And her driver’s fault for not caring enough about her that he would drive her without her wearing seat-belts.

        But maybe she could not have survived the impact on her side of the vehicle.
        Did the Fordriver not see Sanchez-Balderas’ approaching vehicle about to go through the red signal?

Comments are closed.