Police identify driver killed in traffic accident

Wreckage from a fatal two-vehicle collision blocks part of S. Kipling Parkway.

LAKEWOOD – Police Wednesday identified the 84-year-old man killed in a traffic accident earlier this week as 84-year-old Ormal J. Jones.

Jones died at a hospital Monday shortly after a metal-wrenching collision left debris strewn across the intersection of South Kipling Parkway and West Kentucky Avenue. Police did not release his address or hometown.

An off-duty Denver police officer, Gregory J. Vacca, was injured in the accident.

Jones was northbound on Kipling about 8:30 a.m. Monday when he turned left at the intersection, directly into the path of Vacca’s 2003 Dodge pickup, said Police Department spokesman Steve Davis.

Vacca was treated for his injuries and released from Denver Health Medical Center about three hours after the accident, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Jones was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival at St. Anthony Central Hospital, Davis said.

There were no passengers in either vehicle.

The crash left both vehicles severely mangled and knocked a traffic signal pole to the ground. Traffic at the intersection was restricted for hours and the southbound lanes of traffic were closed as investigators sorted through the debris-strewn scene.

‘The initial word I got from some of our guys on the scene was that the southbound truck (Vacca) had a green light,” Davis said.

Davis said investigators believe Jones was on his way to a nearby bowling alley when he turned in front of Vacca’s pickup.

Investigators are awaiting results of tests to determine whether drugs or alcohol were involved.