Maine soldier injured in fatal Colorado crash

FORT CARSON, Colo. – One Fort Carson soldier was killed and charges were pending against another after a one-vehicle rollover crash about 15 miles south of Castle Rock on Interstate 25, the Colorado State Patrol said.

Spc. Sara Richardson, 22, of Colorado Springs, was a passenger in a 2000 Ford Mercury whose driver lost control about 5:45 a.m. Monday, officials said. Richardson, the driver and another passenger were ejected, and Richardson was pronounced dead at the scene.

No seat belts were in use at the time of the crash, the patrol said.

Spc. Mico Morin, 22, of Turner, Maine, was airlifted to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood and was listed in critical condition early Tuesday. Spc. Dan Schroth, 22, of Beaver Falls, Pa., was transported to Swedish by ambulance and was hospitalized in serious condition.

Family members were at Morin’s side in the intensive care unit.

Nancy Morin, his twin sister, told the Lewiston Sun-Journal Tuesday that he had three neck fractures and his lungs were collapsed.

“We won’t know until the weekend how his chances are of making it,” she told the paper.

Investigators said Schroth was traveling north on I-25 at a high rate of speed when he came upon a curve, lost control and overcorrected several times. The Mercury flipped twice, throwing all three occupants from the car before it came to rest.

The soldiers were part of Support Squadron 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment based at Fort Carson, and were driving to Denver International Airport to catch flights for the holidays, base officials said. The crash occurred some 50 miles south of their destination.

The off-duty soldiers were scheduled to return to Iraq early next year, the officials said.