{"id":2455920,"date":"2020-03-17T17:20:22","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T23:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=322795"},"modified":"2020-03-17T17:20:22","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T23:20:22","slug":"driver-cited-in-downtown-aspen-fatal-crash-that-killed-5-year-old-from-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/driver-cited-in-downtown-aspen-fatal-crash-that-killed-5-year-old-from-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver cited in downtown Aspen fatal crash that killed 5-year-old from New York"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Aspen Police taped off the area around the intersection of South Galena Street and East Hyman Avenue after a pedestrian-vehicle accident took place Sunday afternoon. <\/strong>
Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The driver of the SUV that struck and killed a 5-year-old girl Sunday in downtown Aspen was identified Tuesday as a longtime Aspen real estate broker.<\/p>\n

The girl, meanwhile, was identified as Hannah Heusgen, of New York City, who was visiting Aspen with her family, according to prior police statements and a Tuesday news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe victim\u2019s family is requesting privacy to cope with this tragedy,\u201d the release states.<\/p>\n

The driver of the 2018 GMC Acadia that struck Heusgen early Sunday afternoon<\/a> was Heidi Houston, who was charged Tuesday with misdemeanor careless driving resulting in death. A message left Tuesday afternoon for Houston, 67, was not returned. <\/p>\n

Houston was southbound on Galena Street and turning left on to Hyman Avenue, and the girl and her family were crossing Galena when the accident occurred at 12:33 p.m., according to the release.<\/p>\n

The Heusgen family was crossing Galena diagonally from the Hyman Avenue pedestrian mall to the northeast corner where the Ute Mountaineer outdoor store is located, according to an Aspen Police accident report.<\/p>\n

After Houston struck the girl, she went under the SUV and became wedged beneath the rear passenger wheel, the report states. Heusgen was pronounced dead at Aspen Valley Hospital at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

Houston was not intoxicated at the time of the accident, the report states.<\/p>\n

Careless driving resulting in death is a class one misdemeanor traffic offense punishable by between 10 days and a year in county jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investigation indicates that careless driving causing death is the appropriate charge,\u201d prosecutor Don Nottingham said Tuesday. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen indications of intoxication, nor does it appear the actions of the driver were reckless or intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aspen Police press release included phone numbers for Mind Springs Health \u2013 970-920-5555 \u2013 and the Aspen Hope Center \u2013 970-925-5858 \u2013 for anyone who saw the accident scene or otherwise might need mental health assistance because of the incident. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is, of course, a terrible tragedy,\u201d Nottingham said. \u201cEveryone involved \u2013 police, the DA\u2019s Office, emergency personnel \u2013 our hearts break for this little girl and her family.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen Police taped off the area around the intersection of South Galena Street and East Hyman Avenue after a pedestrian-vehicle accident took place Sunday afternoon. Maddie Vincent\/The Aspen Times The driver of the SUV that struck and killed a 5-year-old girl Sunday in downtown Aspen was identified Tuesday as a longtime Aspen real estate broker. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2455920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 09:50:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}