Uber passenger dies of injuries suffered in crash

A man who killed an Uber driver in a car crash after a Garth Brooks concert in Denver has been charged with a second count of vehicular homicide after a second person died July 1 as a result of injuries suffered in the crash.

Mark Karla, 45, died of massive brain trauma and had been hospitalized since the June 9 crash, according to a Denver Police Department probable cause statement. He was a dentist in Commerce City and the son-inlaw of Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers.

Karla, who attended the Brooks concert at Broncos Stadium at Mile High, was taking an Uber home when a driver in a stolen car ran a red light and crashed into the Uber car. The Uber driver, Yasir Hasan, died shortly after the crash.

The other driver, Jeffery Dean Sloan, 36, has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, two counts of first-degree assault — extreme indifference, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident and two counts of vehicular eluding.

Sloan was speeding down East Colfax Avenue at about 1 a.m. on June9inaJeepLibertywhenhe allegedly ran a red light and struck a Honda Insight that Hasan and Karla were in, according to a Denver Police Department probable cause statement.

Hasan and Karla were transported to Denver Health medical center, where Hasan, 33, was declared dead, the police statement said. Karla was in critical condition after the crash.

“We are deeply saddened and our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragic incident,” a spokesperson for Uber told The Denver Post.

Sloan fled the accident scene, according to the probable cause statement. The Jeep had been reported stolen the day before. While searching the vehicle, police found a leather jacket that contained a phone and wallet with Sloan’s ID, the police statement said.

Sloan was arrested June 10. He initially claimed that his jacket, phone and ID had been stolen on Saturday, but later admitted being inside the vehicle, the probable cause statement said. He denied driving at the time of the incident.

The second vehicular homicide charge was added last week after Karla died, said Vikki Migoya, spokeswoman for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. The two first-degree assault charges also were added last week.

Sloan’s preliminary hearing was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Denver District Court. Because Karla was married to a Denver deputy district attorney, the 18th Judicial district attorney is serving as a special prosecutor in the case.