Police: Street racing killed Colorado pedestrian, two drivers arrested

Two drivers were formally charged last week for street racing in central Grand Junction last December. One of the those drivers faces two counts of vehicle homicide after after one of the cars hit and killed a man crossing the street.

Gary Descheene, 63, was pronounced dead by first responders at the intersection of Patterson Road and North 7th Street on Dec. 11 of last year. He was crossing Patterson in the crosswalk at 8:45 p.m. when he was hit by a westbound vehicle, per the Grand Junction Police Department.   

Twenty-one-year-old Jacob Morton pulled over after the collision and admitted to GJPD officers that he was the driver of the Dodge Challenger that hit Descheene. Morton said that night that he and another driver started racing "tit for tat," accelerating and passing one another, a few blocks earlier on Patterson. Morton said, as stated in his arrest affidavit, that he and the other car stopped racing at 12th, and that he hit Descheene after he looked over his shoulder at the other car while approaching 7th and was unable to avoid him. 

GJPD investigators, however, later discovered videos of the Challenger and a Toyota Camry beginning their racing - not ending it - at North 12th Street. According to the arrest affidavit, the Dodge and a Toyota Camry were stopped there at a red light. 

"Upon the signal light turning green," the affidavit reads, "both vehicles are seen accelerating WB on Patterson Road with the Challenger changing lanes in front of the Camry upon the approach to N 7th Street."

Those investigators analyzed the videos and calculated the Challenger's speed at more than 67 mph just before it impacted the pedestrian in the crosswalk at 7th, according to the affidavit. The posted speed limit on that stretch of Patterson Road is 35 mph. It contains a number of medical offices on both sides. In fact, St. Mary Hospital, a Level II trauma center, sits on the southwest corner of 7th and Patterson where the collision occurred.

Arrest warrants for Morton and the driver of the Toyota Camry, a 54-year-old Grand Junction woman, were issued April 1. Both appeared in court and bonded out of jail the next day - the Camry driver for $500 cash, Morton for $50,000 via a bail bondsman.  

Wednesday, Morton was charged with vehicular homicide, a felony, and two traffic violations (reckless driving and speed contest).

The Camry driver also appeared in court Wednesday. At this time, she only faces the same two traffic offenses that Morton does. 

Morton also admitted to smoking marijuana "leaf" about five hours before the incident, as stated in his arrest affidavit. He consented to a blood draw after the crash and measured right at the legal limit of impairment for Colorado drivers. A second count of vehicular homicide, this one alleging he was driving under the influence, was added to Morton's charges Wednesday.

Descheene, a Grand Junction resident at the time, was buried in Arizona eight days after the incident, according to his obituary.