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Man who fatally crashed into Lake Dillon was driving 60 mph, possibly intoxicated, report says

The Summit County Sheriff’s Office tweeted this photo of Grant Mitchell's car being recovered from Lake Dillon on September 1.
File photo |

A man found dead inside his car at the bottom of Lake Dillon on Sept. 1 was driving down Swan Mountain Road at around 60 miles per hour and may have been intoxicated before he went off an embankment and into the water, according to a crash report from the Colorado State Patrol.

The Summit County Coroner’s Office has yet to receive the results of a toxicology report for the man, 27-year-old Michael “Grant” Mitchell, and has not yet issued a final report on his death.

The speed in the CSP report is an estimate, and it says alcohol is suspected but not definitively present.



Mitchell was last seen heading to Summit Cove on the night of Aug. 31, according to a Facebook post that reported him missing. His body was recovered from inside his submerged vehicle later that evening.

According to the CSP report, Mitchell’s vehicle was traveling down a straight section of Swan Mountain Road at nearly double the posted 35 mph speed limit when it crossed the westbound lane and went into a gravel parking area.



It then travelled about 100 feet further before going airborne, hitting a boulder and then coming to rest at the bottom of the lake about 60 feet from the edge of the road, the report says.

Mitchell was wearing his seatbelt and attempted to stop, according to the report. Alcohol, but not drugs, is listed as a suspected factor, along with excessive speed. He was the second person in August to die in a traffic accident near where Swan Mountain Road bounds the Snake River Inlet and heads toward Summit Cove.

On Aug. 10, 68-year-old Mitchell Kaminsky of Palm Beach, Florida, died in a collision with a garbage truck while riding his motorcycle near there.


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