A man was apprehended Friday, months after police say he fatally struck a 2-year-old in southeast Erie and then fled. According to the arrest complaint, investigators discovered over 140 empty alcohol shooters in the man’s truck.
Seth Kirkegaard, 32, was charged with one count of leaving the scene of a fatal collision, one count of careless driving resulting in serious bodily harm or death, and one count of driving without insurance, according to online court records.
In a nearly five-month investigation, police used surveillance footage from nearby businesses to identify Kirkegaard’s truck as the last vehicle to pass through the area—east of Mountain View Boulevard and north of Village Vista Drive—where another driver discovered the child around 4:40 p.m. on February 15.
When authorities interrogated Kirkegaard the next day, he said he drove to Circle K, then to a nearby Taco Bell, and claimed he hadn’t seen anything on the road or remembered hitting anything.
Police then determined that Kirkegaard had gone to a liquor store, not Circle K, to purchase alcohol shots. According to the affidavit, authorities confiscated his pickup on February 16 and discovered approximately 140 empty alcohol shooters inside.
According to the affidavit, a DNA analyst determined that the DNA found on Kirkegaard’s truck’s front passenger side bumper matched that of the toddler.
Kirkegaard’s former boyfriend told police in April that he was being investigated for assaulting a child and that “all evidence points to me, but I didn’t do it,” according to an arrest affidavit. The woman told authorities that Kirkegaard has a history of alcoholism and driving while intoxicated.
According to the affidavit, investigators concluded that “a reasonable driver would likely have perceived that the vehicle had struck or run over something substantial.”
Kirkegaard is being kept in prison at the Weld County Jail on $50,000 bail, according to court documents. According to Erie police spokesman Amber Luttrell, Kirkegaard did not turn himself in because he was aware he would face arrest.
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