On Sunday morning, June 19, Jefferson County, Colo., sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported hit and run involving an SUV and two cyclists. Witness descriptions led officials to conclude the driver acted intentionally.
At 9:50 a.m. on June 19, a driver ran two cyclists off the road along highway 40 near El Rancho, west of Denver. The incident rendered 61-year-old Lisa Ludwig unresponsive with a traumatic brain injury.
Ludwig remains hospitalized with multiple body fractures and is still unresponsive as of this writing. The other cyclist, who authorities have not identified, sustained injuries but did not require hospitalization.
Authorities determined the hit-and-run was intentional and issued an arrest warrant for the driver, Alan (Haley) Mill. By June 23, the sheriff’s office reported it had brought Mill, 39, into custody on vehicular assault charges.
Reports Point to Intentionality
According to Ludwig’s daughter Jennifer, she was still actively competing in and winning races when the hit and run occurred. “[S]he loved riding her bike,” she told bike_legal.
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In a news release, authorities said “[m]ultiple witnesses state Mill intentionally drove into” Ludwig and the other injured cyclist in a gray 2018 Ford Escape registered to Mill. Mill reportedly ran the two riders off the road after passing another cyclist in the group.
Immediately after the crash, authorities stated, Mill drove through a restaurant parking lot at high speed, “seemingly to dislodge a badly damaged bicycle” stuck under the SUV. The driver then fled eastbound on I-70.
Investigators said they weren’t aware of any “precipitating actions” that would have provoked Mill. A search for Mill’s vehicle ensued, and a Lakewood resident called it in the next day. Police at the time believed Mill had abandoned it.
By Wednesday, June 22, officials still hadn’t located Mill and posted a $10,000 reward for an arrest. On Thursday night, authorities said the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office arrested Mill at a home in Denver with assistance from the Denver SWAT Team.
Suspect Faces Felonies
Mill’s charges include one count of first-degree aggravated assault and one count of hit and run causing serious bodily injury. Each charge is a felony; authorities also charged Mill with violating parole.
The suspect awaits a court date while in custody at the Jefferson County jail. Public information officer Jacki Kelley said investigators interviewed Mill overnight with “very unproductive” results.
Meanwhile, the department said Ludwig’s hospitalized condition has not changed since first reported. And it said it identifies no ongoing threat to cyclists or the general public in the area.
“Incidents where drivers intentionally strike bicyclists are incredibly rare,” Kelley said. “We now have the suspect in custody, so the victory is that the person who, for whatever reason, targeted these cyclists can no longer do that again.”
First-degree assault is a class 3 felony in Colorado. An accident causing serious bodily injury is a class 5 felony. Parole violation notwithstanding, Mill will face 13-35 years in prison and up to $503,000 in fines if convicted on both charges.
