DUI driver sentenced to life in prison

A drunken driver who plowed his pickup truck into the rear of a car stopped at a red light in Lakewood, killing the 25-year-old driver he hit, has been sentenced to life in prison.

Todd Kenneth Grudznske, 48, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the Sept. 30 death of Angela Wimmer, according to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. Before the fatal crash, Grudznske had six prior DUI convictions.

In July, a jury found Grudznske guilty of firstdegree murder extreme indifference; vehicular homicide DUI; three counts of attempted first-degree assault; DUI 4th or subsequent; and two count of careless driving resulting in injury.

The morning of the crash, Lakewood police officers responded to the intersection of West Colfax Avenue and Kipling Street on a fivecar collision. Wimmer, driving a gray Mazda, was stopped at a red light on southbound Kipling when Grudznske, driving a GMC truck at high speed, slammed into the Mazda. Three other vehicles were caught in the violent collision. Three other women suffered injuries. Wimmer was taken to a local hospital, where she died.

Grudznske had been bar hopping that Sunday morning, according to the news release. The crash happened after he had left a fourth bar. Grudznske was driving 70 mph on Colfax, in a 40 mph zone, when he killed Wimmer. His bloodalcohol content was 0.341%, more than four times the legal limit, a district attorney’s news release said.

As part of Grudznske’s prior DUI convictions, he had been sentenced to probation and ordered to alcohol education programs.

“This is an appropriate sentence for a man who knowingly put others at risk. He essentially released a 7,000-pound torpedo into a heavily populated residential and commercial area,” said Jefferson County District Attorney Pete Weir, in the news release. “He showed extreme indifference to the value of human life.”