A Summit County Sheriff’s Office report about responding to an Aug. 31 all-terrain vehicle, or ATV, crash describes the scene where responders pronounced an Arvada man dead.

The report states the county dispatch received a notification from a satellite-connected Apple device around 11:45 a.m. saying the user had found a man, later identified as Jose Alfredo Lopez-Diaz, 49, under his ATV with no pulse. 

The Apple device notification sent a location to dispatch as well, indicating the incident occurred on Glacier Ridge Road near Georgia Pass. A deputy, three Summit County Rescue Group members and Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District medical technicians drove utility terrain vehicles to the site, and a Flight for Life helicopter responded as well.

The first reporting party, a group of four friends riding a rented UTV, left the scene to find better cell phone reception, according to the report. The deputy who responded to the crash site wrote in the report that fresh ATV tracks appeared to lead uphill along the trail before going off the downhill edge of the trail towards the crash site. The tracks disappeared as they went over an embankment. A downed tree lay on the embankment, and bark had been rubbed off the tree in “several locations.”

Another group found Lopez-Diaz after the first and helped the Flight for Life helicopter locate the crash site. 

Red, White & Blue medical technicians, rescue group members and Flight for Life crew assessed Lopez-Diaz when they arrived, and he was pronounced dead around 12:50 p.m., according to the report.

The first reporting group told deputies they had not seen Lopez-Diaz or anyone else in the area before finding the crash site. A Sheriff’s Office news release in early September stated Lopez-Diaz was riding alone.

The report states Lopez-Diaz was wearing a helmet. Summit County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Mike Schilling said Lopez-Diaz was not renting the ATV when the crash occurred.

Deputies started searching for Lopez-Diaz’s vehicle with the help of a U.S Forest Service law enforcement officer who looked on the Park County side of Georgia Pass. That officer located the vehicle at the Michigan Creek trailhead around 8:30 p.m.

The description of GoFundMe raising money for Lopez-Diaz’s funeral costs states his daughter started the fundraiser. It describes him as a “true adventurer at heart” and states his daughter wants to “create a service that truly honors his legacy and brings our loved ones together to remember the incredible person he was.”

The fatal crash comes after a similar incident in 2023, when 24-year-old woman died on Rock Island Trail, an off-road trail off of Tiger Road, near Breckenridge, according to Summit Daily News archives. First responders responded to the scene to assist a group of 12 young adults after receiving a call about a CPR event in progress on the remote, rugged road. A driver of one of the ATVs lost control and rolled the vehicle. A passenger was thrown off the back of it, and the ATV came to rest on top of the driver, pinning them.