Colorado School of Mines professor arrested in crash that killed one officer

The Golden police officers killed and injured in a suspected DUI crash Wednesday were identified Thursday. Earlier that day, a Colorado School of Mines professor charged in the crash appeared in court.

Golden officials said Thursday afternoon that Evan Dunn, 33, was killed in the line of duty while responding to the crash on Colorado 58. Police officer Bethany Grusing was seriously injured.

Stephen Geer, a 43-year-old mechanical engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines who was arrested and held overnight in the accident that killed Dunn, is being investigated for vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. He appeared Thursday morning before Jefferson County Court Judge Thomas Vance, who set Geer's bond at $250,000 and scheduled his next appearance for Nov. 14

Geer has no criminal record and is closely connected to the community.

Dunn, who also served as a pilot and company commander in the Colorado National Guard, and Grusing were outside their vehicle investigating a separate accident just before 5 p.m. when a vehicle driven by Geer struck a vehicle on a flyover curve, said Police Chief Joe Harvey of Golden said late Wednesday.

According to the Colorado State Patrol, officers were forced under the vehicle and trapped during the initial impact.

“One officer was stationed in a patrol car outside the scene of the accident and two other officers were attending to the scene when a passing vehicle entered the scene. Both officers at the original crash scene were struck and forced under the original crash vehicle,” CSP officials said in a news release Thursday morning.

Dunn died at the scene of the accident.

Geer “drove in a manner that was unsafe on an already unsafe day,” Jeffco Assistant District Attorney Alexa Visscher said at Thursday morning's hearing.

Geer told police he had drunk a 16-ounce beer at a local brewery on Wednesday before the collision at the scene of the accident on icy roads, defense attorney Lindsay Stone said at the hearing.