Checkpoint honors Fort Collins man — (The Coloradoan)

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The Coloradoan

Coloradoan staff

The Colorado Department of Trans-portation, Colorado State Patrol and Longmont police will dedicate a sobriety checkpoint to Lee Miller, a Fort Collins man killed by a drug-impaired driver July 3, 2007, a day after he got married.

The dedication is part of CDOT’s program to discourage impaired driving and increase awareness of the consequences of the crime by memorializing innocent victims at sobriety checkpoints.

A plaque will be dedicated to Miller’s family at the checkpoint, and his picture will be displayed at the checkpoint’s entrance.

Miller, 28, was loading wedding gifts into his car in Longmont when a passing driver careened into him, pinning Miller between the two vehicles.

The driver, 56-year-old Connie Marie Petitt of Longmont, had consumed dozens of pain pills and anti-depressants. She was sentenced to four years for vehicular homicide as a result of being under the influence of prescription drugs.

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Lee Alan Miller died Tuesday, hours after getting pinned against his wife’s car. Miller and Katy Conway were married in Evergreen on Monday night. He was in Longmont on Tuesday at Conway’s parents’ house.

The Coloradoan newspaper reported investigators believe driver Connie Marie Petitt, 56, may have been reaching for something when she hit Miller.

Petitt, of Longmont, could face a charge of vehicular homicide upon release from Longmont United Hospital, Longmont Cmdr. Craig Earhart said. She was still hospitalized Friday.

Miller graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in journalism. He worked as the sports editor at the Windsor Beacon in the summer of 2003 before joining the Fort Collins-based Harlem Ambassadors, a traveling basketball club that promotes a healthy lifestyle and racial harmony.

Survivors include Miller’s wife, Katy Conway, the couple’s daughter, Maia Leigh, and parents Buck and Marsha Miller.