Jury deliberating in case of man accused of DUI, killing US Air Force lieutenant colonel
CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (KDVR) — It was last summer when a truck crashed into the gas pumps at a 7-Eleven in Castle Rock and killed a member of the Air Force.
The store is located on East Plum Creek Parkway. A police affidavit states a pickup truck crashed into the gas pumps on Aug. 4, 2024, at 2:22 p.m.
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That truck hit another vehicle and a man who had just parked at a pump and was putting gasoline in his Sequoia SUV. Court records show 56-year-old Paul Stephenson was driving the truck that went out of control.
The Douglas County District Attorney's office says 38-year-old Air Force Lt. Col. Matthew Anderson from Centennial was killed. His family was inside the SUV at the time.
Records show Stephenson had stated he had been drinking beer and a pint of Fireball Whisky before the crash. Police said video cameras captured the truck moving recklessly and at a high rate of speed.
Stephenson took the stand at the Douglas County Courthouse Thursday, testifying that he did not remember the crash and that he knew it was wrong to drink and drive.
Closing arguments started late Thursday afternoon, where both state prosecutors and Stephenson's defense attorney spoke about what happened on the day of the crash.
'And that conduct begins from the moment this guy climbs into that truck having drank a pint of whiskey and two Bud Lights and puts himself on those roads. And then at the perfect moment, for him and the worst moment for everyone else, he turns, accelerates and plows right into that crowded gas station,' 23rd Judicial District DA George Brauchler said.
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'Something happened to him to make that vehicle go into that 7-Eleven parking lot. There's no indoor camera there, so we don't know exactly how, but something did. That's not the way he drives,' Defense Attorney Mike Mitchell said.
Several members of the Air Force dressed in blue military uniforms were in the courtroom for the closing arguments. Anderson's wife, father and other family members were also present.
The jury deliberated for an hour and a half and is scheduled to resume deliberations on Monday.
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Baldor in Narragansett, Rhode Island and Nicholas Ingram in Knob Noster, Missouri, contributed reporting. Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
The Hill
11 hours ago
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — It was an unprecedented attack years in the making, with some last-minute misdirection meant to give the operation a powerful element of surprise. U.S. pilots dropped 30,000-pound bombs early Sunday on two key underground uranium enrichment plants in Iran, delivering what American military leaders believe is a knockout blow to a nuclear program that Israel views as an existential threat and has been pummeling for more than a week. American sailors bolstered the surprise mission by firing dozens of cruise missiles from a submarine toward at least one other site. Dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, U.S. officials say the plan was characterized by a 'precision strike' that 'devastated the Iranian nuclear program,' even as they acknowledged an assessment was ongoing. For its part, Iran denied that any significant damage had been done, and the Islamic Republic pledged to retaliate. 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One group of B-2 stealth bombers traveled west from Missouri on Saturday as decoys, drawing the attention of amateur plane spotters, government officials and some media as they headed toward a U.S. air base in the Pacific. At the same time, seven other B-2s carrying two 'bunker buster' bombs apiece flew eastward, keeping communications to a minimum so as not to draw any attention. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at Sunday's briefing that it was all 'part of a plan to maintain tactical surprise' and that only 'an extremely small number of planners and key leaders' knew about it in Washington and Florida, where U.S. Central Command is based. After 18 hours of furtive flying that required aerial refueling, the armed B-2 Spirit bombers, each with two crew members, arrived on time and without detection in the Eastern Mediterranean, from where they launched their attack runs. Before crossing into Iran, the B-2s were escorted by stealthy U.S. fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft. A graphic released by the Pentagon showed the flight route as passing over Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. It was unclear whether those countries were notified of the U.S. overflight in advance. Most U.S. lawmakers were also kept in the dark, with some Republicans saying they were provided a brief heads-up by the White House before the strike. 'Our B-2s went in and out and back without the world knowing at all,' Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters Sunday. About an hour before the B-2s entered Iran, Caine said that a U.S. submarine in the region launched more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles against key targets, including a site in Isfahan where uranium is prepared for enrichment. As the U.S. bombers approached their targets, they watched out for Iranian fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles, but encountered none. At 6:40 p.m. in Washington and 2:10 a.m. in Tehran, the first B-2 bomber dropped its pair of GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrators on the deeply buried Fordo uranium enrichment plant. It was the first time these so-called 'bunker busters' had ever been used in combat. Each 30,000-pound bomb is designed to burrow into the ground before detonating a massive warhead. The Fordo site received the bulk of the bombardment, though a couple of the enormous bombs were also dropped on a uranium enrichment site at Natanz. The U.S. bombs fell for about half an hour, with cruise missiles fired from submarines being the last American weapons to hit their targets, which included a third nuclear site at Isfahan, Caine said. Both Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog said there were no immediate signs of radioactive contamination around the sites. 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Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina.
