Photo: Eric Miller/Unsplash
Colorado’s Summit County Sheriff’s office announced Tuesday they’d located and cited a suspect in a recent hit-and-run ski accident that sent two people to the hospital. A 50-year-old Louisiana man has now been cited for leaving the scene of a collision at Keystone Ski Resort on January 2, which is considered a Class 2 petty offense under Colorado’s Ski Safety Act.
The man had rented an orange Snow-Go ski bike, according to the Sheriff’s Office, and ran into two people at the intersection of two trails then left the scene. Both of those people were sent to the hospital, with one of the crash victims still in critical condition days later. The severity of the accident no doubt led to the story making headlines along with other ski and snowboard accidents that have resulted in deaths within the past two weeks, making mountain safety, and what Summit County Sheriffs are referring to as the Skier Responsibility Code, top-of-mind.
“Skiing and riding within your ability is key,” Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons said this week. “Especially during these times when runs are limited and there’s a lot of people in town — I think if you start riding within your ability you prevent a lot of injuries and accidents.”
Sheriffs had called the incident a “criminal act” when they began the investigation, but the Ski Safety Act only calls for a maximum penalty of $1,000 for the hit-and-run offense. The man on the ski bike is, however, potentially on the line for severe penalties in a civil suit, according to the laws outlined in the Ski and Safety Act.
“Each skier expressly accepts and assumes the risk of, and all legal responsibility for, any injury to person or property resulting from any of the inherent dangers and risks of skiing,” reads the Act, “except that a skier is not precluded under this article from suing another skier for any injury to person or property resulting from such other skier’s acts or omissions.”
As for the hit-and-run offense, the Act also outlines that skiers and snowboarders are responsible for exchanging contact information with ski patrol or safety personnel first unless they are leaving the site of the accident to secure aid for an injured person.
