Police arrest man in hit-and -run

Motorcyclist recovering from severe injuries

A man was arrested Wednesday following a hit-and-run that severely injured a motorcyclist in Longmont.

Longmont police arrested 25-year-old Zachar y Carpenter about 4 p.m. Wednesday at Woodspring Suites in Firestone, according to a news release.

Police also located and impounded the car involved in the hit-and-run, the release states. The car is a 2009 Hyundai Genesis with Florida license plates.

Carpenter was transported to the Boulder County Jail. He is facing charges of leaving the scene of an accident, a Class 4 felony; careless driving, a Class 1 traffic misdemeanor; failure to notify police, a Class 2 traffic misdemeanor; turning left in front of an intersection while failing to yield the right-of-way to any vehicle coming from the opposite direction, a Class A traffic infraction; and failure to provide insurance, a Class 1 traffic misdemeanor.

When police located Carpenter at the Woodspring Suites, he began “shaking,” according to the arrest report.

He told Longmont Officer Tyler Bartlett he was the only person in the car and was picking up a Doordash order and was driving south on South Hover Street, the report states.

“He believed he had a green turn arrow and he made a left turn, colliding with a (motorcyclist),” the report states. “He panicked and he did not know how bad the other person was injured and he did not want to know. He fled the scene speeding westbound and made some turns along the way.”

After leaving the scene, he returned to the house where he had been staying.

The driver of the motorcycle is still recovering from his

serious injuries, the release states.

Video footage from a Gopro dashcam attached to the motorcycle shows the motorcyclist stopped at a red signal light as he drove northbound on Hover Street, the report states.

It then shows the lights turn green for drivers going northbound on Hover Street, and he entered the intersection on the green light.

Following the crash, the driver of the motorcycle was in the roadway on the east side of intersection of Ken Pratt Boulevard and South Hover Street, the report states. His left foot was amputated from his body at the scene, and a tourniquet was applied to control the heavy bleeding.

The motorcyclist was then transported to a local hospital where he underwent emergency surgery, the report states. Medical officials determined he suffered a “serious bodily injur y.”