A police officer in Colorado suffered a serious leg injury after he was struck by a fire truck near the end of a parade to celebrate the Denver Nuggets’ first NBA championship victory, authorities said Thursday. Later that day, a shooting took place in a downtown area that wounded two people.
Thomas said the incident occurred at about 11:30 a.m. on June 15 when Dodge was trying to protect parade-goers who penetrated the barriers and made their way near the fire truck in an attempt to approach the players.
“[Dodge] had to step kind of closer to the vehicle and the fire truck began to roll up the back of his left leg, trapping him underneath the vehicle. Causing a very significant lower leg injury,” Thomas said.
Stephen Wolf, director of emergency medicine at Denver Health Medical Center, said the officer was cleared by a trauma team and is currently in stable condition. However, he noted that the officer suffered a “severe limb-threatening” injury.
“As of right now, we can’t say necessarily what the outcome will be, but I can guarantee you that our orthopedic services will do everything possible to preserve the limb,” Wolf told reporters while answering questions if they’re able to save his leg.
When speaking about the injuries of the two shooting victims, Wolf said they are in serious condition.
The shooting took place about an hour after parade-goers left the downtown area, Thomas said, adding that at this time investigators do not believe the incident is linked to the celebration and was likely sparked by a drug deal gone wrong.
Thomas said officials have already obtained surveillance footage and images of the shooting suspects, noting that he’s confident officers assigned to the case will identify them to make arrests.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock denounced the shooting, saying he believes it wasn’t about safety in the downtown area but about guns in the wrong hands amid a nationwide fentanyl crisis.
“We have done this parade now three times in the last 12 years—at least in the last eight years—and we’ve not seen this type of challenge before,” Hancock said. “This is not about downtown. ... This really is about young people getting their hands on guns. These are young people, 19, and 22, and 25,” he added.
Drug Deal Sparks Mass Shooting
Thursday’s incident happened just days after a likely drug-related shooting wounded 10 people in downtown Denver as fans celebrated the Nuggets’ NBA championship victory, police said. Two suspects have been arrested in connection with that shooting.
All of the injured—nine men and one woman—are expected to survive, including five or six people that police believe were bystanders not involved in the drug deal, Thomas said. He said 20 rounds were fired at the scene, roughly a mile from Ball Arena where the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat in the Finals in Game 5 on Monday.
A total of five handguns were found by investigators but testing still needs to be done to determine whether they were used at the shooting, the police chief said. A “significant quantity” of suspected fentanyl pills was also found at the scene, according to Denver Police Commander Matt Clark.
The Nuggets’ win drew thousands of people downtown, and the shooting happened as the celebration was winding down after midnight, authorities said. The shooting happened in the same area where fans celebrated the Colorado Avalanche hockey team winning the Stanley Cup last year without any serious problems.
Thomas, as well as Hancock, said authorities made similar preparations for the Nuggets’ championship victory.
“What we couldn’t have planned for was a drug deal right in the middle of a celebration,” Thomas said.
