Leadville man sentenced to prison after hit-and-run DUI

LAKE COUNTY, Colo. — A Leadville man was sentenced to several years in prison after he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence, crashing into a stopped motorcyclist, and fleeing the scene.

On Friday, Daniel Frank Sandoval, 46, of Leadville, was sentenced to eight years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 10 to vehicular assault involving a DUI, according to the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

The charges stemmed from Sept. 7, 2021, when Sandoval hit a parked motorcycle at the intersection of Highway 24 and Highway 82, just east of Twin Lakes. The motorcyclist was seriously injured and had to be airlifted to Lakewood, the district attorney’s office said. Sandoval fled from the crash, but Colorado State Patrol officers later found him at his Leadville home.

Sandoval said he had hit the motorcyclist and left because he didn’t have a valid driver’s license, the district attorney’s office said. The officers noticed he seemed intoxicated and Sandoval agreed to a blood draw, which revealed he had a BAC of 0.185 — more than twice the legal state limit.

At the time, Sandoval was on bond for a probation complaint in Lake County stemming from a first-degree attempted criminal trespass in 2018, plus a pending 2021 DUI case, the district attorney’s office said.

Sandoval was sentenced to 18 months for the 2018 case, which will run concurrent to the hit-and-run case. He was also sentenced to 12 months for the DUI case.