An off-duty Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department sergeant was struck and killed at the scene of multiple car accidents Saturday afternoon on U.S. 285 near Doubleheader Ranch Road, north of Conifer.
Sergeant Sean Renfro, a 15-year veteran of the department, had stopped to help direct traffic, according to Jacki Kelley, Jeffco Sheriff spokeswoman.
Renfro, who was on the southbound side of U.S. 285, was hit at about 2:40 p.m. by a northbound SUV that “lost control and crossed the highway, striking the off-duty deputy and other adult male,” Cpl. Heather Cobler, spokeswoman for the Colorado State Patrol said in a statement.
Renfro was pronounced dead at the scene.
The crash that killed Renfro was the third in a chain reaction of accidents on an icy, snow-covered stretch of southbound U.S. 285, about 8 miles west of C-470.
The first accident was a single-car collision between a Mitsubishi SUV and the side of the mountain. No injuries were reported from that fender bender, according to the CSP statement.
Two people in a truck stopped to help the driver of the Mitsubishi SUV. Their truck was then rear-ended by a sedan while it was parked on the shoulder of southbound U.S. 285. No injuries were reported from the second crash, per the statement.
At this point, Colorado State Patrol arrived on-scene to investigate, per the CSP statement.
Paramedics were also on scene, Cobler said.
It was shortly thereafter that the northbound SUV lost control, hitting Renfro and the other bystander, and then ramming into the front of the truck involved in the second accident.
The previously-uninjured people in that truck, along with the bystander hit next to Renfro, were taken to area hospitals with “moderate to serious” injuries, per the statement.
A CSP trooper also suffered minor injuries from flying debris, Cobler said.
Cobler said it was snowing at the time of the accident and the highway was blanketed with snow.
U.S. 285 was closed for about 5 hours about 3 miles north of Conifer while authorities investigated. Both lanes reopened at about 7:20 p.m., per CDOT.
No charges have been filed, but the crash is still under investigation. The CSP asks anyone who witnessed the crash to call 303-239-4501.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/laurakeeney.
