FOUNTAIN, Colo. (AP) – Three Colorado State Patrol Communications Officers are on paid leave while authorities investigate a delay in sending a trooper to a crash on Interstate 25 – a delay followed by a fatal crash in the same spot.

State Patrol Chief Jim Wolfinbarger says it appears at least one dispatcher was distracted “watching a Christmas movie.”

Troopers say that at 1:37 a.m. Thursday, a called told the patrol a sedan had struck a deer and was stuck in a traffic lane with no lights or flashers. A trooper was dispatched at 1:46 a.m.

At 1:50 a.m., 20-year-old Heather Clinton of San Manuel, Ariz., lost control of her SUV as she approached the sedan. She and her brother were ejected. She was killed. Her brother was hospitalized in fair condition Monday.
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