Driver killed in accident on Coffee Pot Road

Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado
November 4, 2007

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DOTSERO - An employee of a lodge in the Flat Tops was killed and a second person was injured Monday when a pickup truck swerved off the Coffee Pot Road near Dotsero and rolled numerous times down a steep slope.

Thomas Murray, 29, of Westville, Okla., was driving a 2007 Dodge pickup when the single-vehicle accident occurred about nine miles up the road.

Both Murray and his passenger, Randy Amrine, 23, of Toledo, Wash., were ejected from the vehicle, which rolled about 200 yards down the slope, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said in a news release Friday. The incident occurred on BLM land.

Amrine was able to crawl back to the road and contact a group of hunters, who called 911. Amrine suffered minor injuries and was transported to Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs. He was released Tuesday.

Both men were employed by Budge's Flattops Wilderness Lodge, located 38 miles up the Coffee Pot Road. Boyd said he believed the two were off duty and driving into town from the lodge.

Amrine told a BLM officer that Murray said, "Hey, look at that!" just before driving off the road, said BLM spokesman David Boyd. Boyd said speed and road conditions were not considered factors in the accident.