Colorado prosecutors say no one will be charged in hit-and-run despite finding car

CBS News

19-06-2025

Cycling victim in hit and run reacts to news of no charges in the case
Cycling victim in hit and run reacts to news of no charges in the case
Cycling victim in hit and run reacts to news of no charges in the case
Greg Johnson walks with a limp, part of the aftereffects of what happened to him the morning of June 18, 2022. An avid bicyclist, he was en route to Golden Gate Canyon for one of his long weekend rides. The ride followed his usual commute on a bike from Wheat Ridge to Denver International Airport and back for work most days.
But that morning was different. He was struck from behind on 32nd Avenue in Golden by a car and went tumbling over it, taking out a side mirror on the way. He didn't wake up until he was in a hospital.
Greg Johnson was struck in a hit-and-run on 32nd Avenue in Golden on June 18, 2022.
Bob Shaver
"Twenty-plus broken bones. The right femur was shattered into 40 pieces. Right hip was crushed," he listed as some of his injuries. He is full of new parts installed. A back surgery went poorly and he had to have it redone in February. It has been a tribute to his fitness and determination that he has gotten back on a bike. But a 20-to-30-mile slow ride is tops. It hurts to much with all the screws in wrong places he shares.
"I'm never going to be back to what I was or where I was," he said. And there is frustration with what happened. "The only ones that have been held responsible for this have been my wife and I."
As of June 18, 2025, the statute of limitations has ended the ability for investigators to file charges in the case they worked to make. In Colorado, aside from serious charges like murder or kidnapping, most felony charges have a three-year statute of limitations. And so with no charges filed, no one will be charged, he was told this week by the First Judicial District Attorney's Office in Jefferson County.
Not that there wasn't a chance. In the days after the hit-and-run, Colorado State Patrol detectives leading the investigation, acting on a tip, found what they believed was the car involved. It was damaged and was missing the mirror that matched the one left at the scene.
They identified an 18-year-old as the car's owner. He was arrested on a warrant connected to a prior DUI charge out of Denver.
What they didn't get from the car's owner was a confession. They got no cooperation, says the Colorado State Patrol. Not from the driver or the other two people reportedly in the car with him.
"The story that was relayed to me was that the three people who were in the vehicle, all three claimed to have been too intoxicated to know who was driving," said Johnson.
In March, Colorado State Patrol investigators met with the district attorney's office.
CBS Colorado's Alan Gionet interviews Greg Johnson.
CBS
"To file criminal charges, the district attorney's office must be able to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a specific individual committed a crime. In this case, the investigation conducted by the Colorado State Patrol did not establish probable cause for who was driving the vehicle, and therefore, they did not recommend charges," said the First Judicial District Attorney's Office director of public affairs Brionna Boatright.
Johnson said he heard little from the Colorado State Patrol about the investigation over the past three years. He says he's not upset, but disappointed.
"There's got to be some means to follow through with this," said Johnson.
Colorado State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Sherri Mendez said:
"Our hearts go out to the victim… They put a lot of work into the investigation. In this case, we were all disappointed that the charges didn't go through."
Johnson says friends continually ask, 'Why not charge all of them?'
In order for there to be a conspiracy, there would have had to have been an agreement to hit the cyclist, explained Boatright.
The charge under the circumstances of a traffic case would most likely be as an accessory. But a hit and run is a singular act, and charging as an accessory depends upon someone being charged as the driver. No one is accused as the driver at this point.
In effect, the three believed to be in the car investigators connect to the case found a loophole in the law.
Johnson says he understands the need to guard against abuse of the rights of the accused.
"It is the way it is to protect people's rights from their standpoint, and I completely support and grasp that. But when you're on the other side of it and you look at it, I still find it a stretch to say it's serving justice, the fact that there were three people in that car. All three of them were culpable at some level, at least of not having the humanity to stop and render aid to someone who was severely injured."
In the time he is back on a bike, Johnson loves to hear the sounds of birds as he passes them, but wishes he could ride farther up into the canyons like he used to.
"I wish it had worked out differently. I wish I had never been on 32nd Avenue at 6 o'clock in the morning… with a drunk driver behind me. It is what it is now."