A woman is accused of DUI and causing a crash in Longmont that left a man dead.
Fiona Alspaugh, 22, has been charged with vehicular homicide, the Boulder County District Attorney's office confirmed Wednesday. Alspaugh also faces child abuse charges, as her 2-year-old child was in her car at the time of the crash, according to an affidavit. The child was not harmed, officials said.
Longmont police officers were called to the triple-vehicle crash Dec. 18 near Pike Road and Corporate Center Circle. A witness said Alspaugh was driving “all over the road” and nearly struck the curb several times before the crash, according to the affidavit.
The officers had Alspaugh perform sobriety tests and “detected a slight odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage coming from her breath,” according to the affidavit.
She was arrested for vehicular assault and driving under the influence, and taken to the Boulder County Jail.
Tahner Forsyth, 30, was seriously injured in the crash and he was airlifted to a hospital in Denver for treatment. He suffered brain and spinal injuries and died later that week, his friends and family confirmed.
The Boulder County District Attorney's office filed a motion to change Alspaugh's charges after Forsyth's death. The motion was granted Dec. 29.
“With the tragic passing of the victim, our office undertook a careful evaluation of the evidence. Based on that analysis, our office filed a motion to amend the most serious count to Vehicular Homicide – DUI (F3)," District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in a statement. "Our office has met with the family of the victim and they will have our full support throughout this difficult process.”
A fundraiser was set up after Forsyth’s death to help his brother pay for hospital expenses and unpaid leave for grieving and court proceedings. The brothers were just teenagers when they lost both their parents, fundraiser organizer Kelly Perkins said in a message to the community posted on the GoFundMe page.
Forsyth became an organ donor, Perkins said.
“Many of us check that box on our driver’s license and never give it much of a second thought. We look at it differently now,” Perkins’ message to the community read. “As Tahner’s brother said, now three people get to live. They get to enjoy their families and their children.”
A status conference for Alspaugh is scheduled for Tuesday.
