AURORA | A suspected drunk driver has been arrested for striking and killing a 26-year-old woman with his vehicle Sunday night, according to Aurora Police.
Aurora Police charged Timothy Knutson, 37, on Sunday with four counts: vehicular homicide, leaving the scene, careless driving and driving under the influence. The first two charges are felonies.
Police responded shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday morning to a call for a welfare check on a person lying on the sidewalk near the corner of East Iliff Avenue and Pagosa Way, according to police. Upon arriving at the scene, police found the body of a woman, who was dead when officers got there.
The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office Tuesday identified the woman as Jana LaShay Phillips.
About an hour before responding to the welfare check, an Aurora police officer pulled over Knutson, who was reportedly driving erratically in the New Life Church Community Parking Lot, according to an arrest affidavit filed against him. An officer pulled Knutson over on Telluride Street after watching him drive a black Jeep Patriot with no front lights and a damaged front grill onto a curb.
Knutson smelled like alcohol and his eyes were “red, watery and bloodshot,” according to the affidavit. Knutson refused to participate in field sobriety tests and did not allow officers to test his blood or breath for alcohol. Investigators later served a warrant for Knutson’s blood while he was detained at Jefferson Hills Detox, according to the affidavit.
An Aurora police officer arrested Knutson for driving under the influence and drove him to the local detox center. On the way to the facility on Potomac Street, Knutson said multiple times that he “f***ed up.” He then admitted he hit something while driving, but didn’t know what it was.
Upon responding to the report of a welfare check at about 3 a.m., Aurora traffic investigators found tire marks, pieces from a black car and a hubcap that matched Knutson’s Jeep.
Investigators determined a vehicle traveling east on East Iliff Avenue drove onto the sidewalk, striking Phillips and a street sign before getting back onto the road and fleeing the scene. Knutson was arrested about half a mile from where Phillips was killed.
Records from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation show Knutson has a lengthy criminal history spanning nearly two decades. Knutson has had run-ins with law enforcement agencies across the Front Range, including the Denver Police Department, the Lone Tree Police Department, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, the Douglas County Sheriff’s office, the Limon Police Department, and the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, among others. The four new charges filed by local police mark the first time Knutson has been arrested in Aurora, records show.
In April 2004, Knutson was sentenced to three years in prison for a felony charge of obstructing justice by intimidating a witness or victim of a crime. He had additional time tacked onto his sentence after being arrested for carrying a weapon in Lincoln County.
The criminal investigation and prosecution of the case have been handed to the 18th Judicial District, according to police.
Knutson’s bond has been set at $50,000, although a hearing to discuss that sum was scheduled for Tuesday morning, according to Vikki Migoya, spokeswoman for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.