ARVADA, Colo. — Arvada police on Friday arrested the driver who allegedly struck and killed a man in a wheelchair in a hit-and-run crash earlier this month.
The crash happened just before 2 a.m. on May 8 on Wadsworth Boulevard just north of 53rd Avenue.
According to the Arvada Police Department, a man in a wheelchair was traveling north on Wadsworth in the southbound lanes when he was struck head-on by a pickup truck. The driver of the truck did not stop after the crash.
A Good Samaritan stopped to help the man. The victim was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
Family members identified the victim as longtime Arvada resident James Aguilar.
“They left him in the street like an animal, and we deserve better than that,” James’ son, Dominick Aguilar, told Denver7.
Dominick described his father as amazing and said the two would watch wrestling together on Mondays.
- Hear more from the Aguilar family in the video player below
Arvada police searching for driver who fatally struck man in wheelchair
License plate recognition cameras, or Flock cameras, captured the suspect vehicle’s license plate information. On Tuesday, Arvada investigators obtained an arrest warrant for the alleged driver, Carlos Manuel Cayetano, 39.
Cayetano was arrested just before 11:30 a.m. on Friday in the area of 58th Avenue and Lamar Street on the following charges:
- Leaving the scene/ accident involving death (Class 3 felony)
- Two counts of possession of a controlled substance (Class 4 drug felony)
- Two counts of violation of a protection order (Class 1 misdemeanor)
He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond.
The Aguilar family has started a GoFundMe online fundraiser to help with funeral costs.
