The suspect in a fatal hit-and-run on the edge of Denver’s 16th Street pedestrian mall abandoned his car and fled the scene on foot, according to court documents.
Milton McBride, 27, allegedly drove through the gate of a Denver parking garage early Sunday morning, hit another vehicle on Market Street and hopped the curb near the 16th Street intersection, according to his arrest affidavit.
When he drove onto the sidewalk, McBride struck a billboard-type sign and pushed it onto the victim, who died at the scene, police wrote in the affidavit.
McBride was arrested Sunday on suspicion of vehicular homicide. As of Tuesday morning, he had not yet been charged, and his next court date had not been set.
Denver officers responded to the fatal crash at 16th and Market streets shortly after 2:15 a.m. Sunday. When they arrived, they found the dead victim and the suspect vehicle, but the driver had fled the scene.
Witnesses told investigators that the driver got out of his vehicle after the crash and left on foot without calling 911 or rendering medical aid, police said.
Officers found McBride roughly 1/5 mile away, in the 1700 block of Wazee Street, at about 2:45 a.m. Sunday, according to court documents.
When they contacted McBride, officers noted his speech was slurred, his breath smelled like alcohol, he was staggering and stumbling and his eyes were bloodshot, according to the arrest affidavit.
McBride was not offered a voluntary field sobriety test because he was immediately detained and, after being positively identified by a witness as the suspect driver, arrested, police said in the document.
Paramedics took McBride to a nearby hospital for blood testing. During that time, he repeatedly told officers that he hadn’t hit anyone and no one had died, according to the affidavit.
The results of the blood test were not publicly available as of Tuesday.
McBride’s license was suspended at the time of the crash, and he had a warrant out for his arrest from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office for a domestic violence and child abuse case, court records show.
McBride previously took a deal and pleaded guilty to DUI and assaulting a police officer in a separate El Paso County case in 2022, according to court records.
The deal dropped multiple drug and weapons charges, another count of assault and a charge for driving without a license, court records show. He was sentenced to 3 years in jail.
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