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Dulce Maria Castro Perez

Age : 21

Gender : Female

Race : Latino/a/e

Date : 10/26/2021

Location : East Bridge Street and Mt. Bierstadt Street

City : Brighton

County : Adams

State : Colorado

Agency : Brighton Police Department

Officer(s) :Charles Hundley; Travis Flemming; Commander Nicholas Struck

Cause of Death : Vehicle

Event : Passenger killed by police chase crash

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

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REASON WHY PURSUIT WAS INITIATED:
At approximately 11:30 a.m., Brighton Police Officer Charles Hundley responded to a report of a suspicious person in a 2011 Kia Sorento in a residential neighborhood near Gaviota Avenue and Goldfinch Street. Hundley determined that the parked Kia had been reported stolen. Commander Nicholas Struck arrived in an unmarked police vehicle, and as officers approached, police alleged the Kia struck the front of Struck's vehicle while driving away. Hundley immediately initiated a pursuit with emergency lights and siren activated, with Officer Travis Flemming following behind him.
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OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY:
On 10/26/2021, Brighton Police Officer Charles Hundley initiated a high-speed pursuit through a residential neighborhood after the Kia drove away from officers. Officer Travis Flemming joined behind Hundley. Police estimated the Kia was traveling 50–60 mph through streets with a 25-mph speed limit while Hundley and Flemming continued pursuing with emergency lights and sirens.
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The pursuit lasted just over two minutes. Hundley's dashboard camera recorded the entire sequence. Hundley later told investigators that he maintained an average distance of approximately one-quarter mile behind the Kia while evaluating whether to terminate the pursuit. The prosecutor's investigation established that Hundley himself drove above the speed limit, proceeded through stop signs and disregarded other traffic regulations while pursuing the Kia through the residential area.
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Immediately before the fatal collision, Hundley heard a radio transmission directing police to discontinue the pursuit. Hundley said that by the time he processed the instruction, the crash had occurred. Police therefore did not actually end the pursuit before the fatal collision; Hundley's patrol vehicle remained approximately one block behind the Kia when it crashed.
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At East Bridge Street and Mt. Bierstadt Street, the Kia entered the intersection and struck a 2002 Nissan Frontier pickup in which 21-year-old Dulce Castro Perez was a passenger. Accident reconstruction calculated the Kia's impact speed at 63–69 mph, while its speedometer was locked at 71 mph. The collision ejected Dulce from the pickup. The Kia continued across Bridge Street into a grassy area and struck pedestrian Gustavo Mosqueda Ortega, 25, who had been walking on the sidewalk. Both Dulce and Gustavo were transported to hospitals and died from their injuries.
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Dulce's mother was also in the pickup and suffered critical injuries. The pursuit therefore left two uninvolved people dead and Dulce's mother critically injured, in addition to injuries suffered by people in the pursued vehicle.
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Dulce was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, and immigrated to Colorado as a young child. She attended school in Hudson and Keenesburg and graduated from Weld Central High School. She was the younger of two children of Maria Luisa and J. Carmen Castro and had an older brother, Rodolfo.
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Dulce had already survived cancer as a teenager. Her family described her as loving, caring and responsible, with a constant smile. She loved cooking, drawing, spending time with her pets and family and helping children. She planned to continue her education and find a good job so she could provide a better life for her parents.
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TOTAL FATALITIES/INJURIES:
2 Fatalities, multiple injuries including critical injuries to Dulce's mother.
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EYEWITNESS OR FAMILY STATEMENTS:
Dulce's cousin Esmeralda Perez remembered her as a loving, caring and responsible young woman who had survived cancer during her teenage years. After visiting the crash scene and seeing pieces of the wreckage, Perez said the family would forever miss Dulce and wished she could hug her one more time.
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DISPOSITION:
Nicholas Villarini was initially charged with two counts of first-degree murder, first-degree assault, vehicular eluding and driving under restraint. He ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide-DUI and one count of DUI vehicular assault. On 01/26/2023, he was sentenced to 40 years in state prison—20 years for each death—followed by four years of mandatory parole.
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Officer Charles Hundley was separately investigated for his role in initiating and continuing the pursuit. An external investigation concluded there was no violent felony or other act of violence requiring an immediate pursuit and found that Hundley demonstrated insufficient concern for public safety and failed to terminate the dangerous pursuit. Brighton Police fired Hundley in January 2022.
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The 17th Judicial District Attorney's Office nevertheless declined to criminally charge Hundley for his role in initiating the pursuit. District Attorney Brian Mason called Hundley's decision to pursue “deeply troubling” and concluded that the high-speed chase was unnecessarily dangerous and disproportionate to the alleged criminal activity and risk presented. The DA's own report acknowledged that the Kia's dangerous driving might not have occurred but for Hundley's pursuit, but concluded that prosecutors could not prove Hundley's driving legally caused the deaths.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Officer Charles Hundley initiated and led the pursuit, Officer Travis Flemming followed immediately behind him, and Commander Nicholas Struck was the officer whose unmarked vehicle was struck immediately before Hundley began chasing the Kia. Hundley's dash camera captured the pursuit from its beginning through the fatal crash.
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Hundley's own department fired him following an external investigation of the pursuit, finding that the circumstances did not require immediate pursuit and faulting his concern for public safety and failure to terminate the chase. The district attorney subsequently declined criminal charges but independently characterized Hundley's decision to engage in the high-speed residential pursuit as unnecessarily dangerous and disproportionate.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.denver7.com/news/crime/man-charged-with-2-counts-of-first-degree-murder-in-deadly-brighton-police-chase
https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/2-bystanders-killed-suspect-seriously-injured-in-crash-after-brighton-police-chase
https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/coroner-identifies-two-people-killed-following-brighton-pursuit-crash
https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/was-it-justified-brighton-police-pursuit-ends-in-2-dead
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/brighton-stolen-vehicle-chase-deadly-police/
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/brighton-police-pursuit-crash-passenger-pedestrian-officer-charles-hundley-review-nicholas-villarini/
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/nicholas-villarini-sentenced-driver-police-pursuit-stolen-vehicle-brighton-dulce-castro-perez-gustavo-ortega/
https://adamsbroomfieldda.org/userfiles/2358/files/DecisionLetterPursuit10262021.pdf
https://adamsbroomfieldda.org/blog/6912/17th-Judicial-District-Attorney-s-Office-Files-First-Degree-Murder-Charges-Against-Nicholas-Villarini
https://www.taborfuneralhome.com/obituary/Dulce-CastroPerez