Colin Darkly (real name Colin Mulhern) has died, and Patrick Carney seriously injured after being rear-ended by a woman driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Mulhern and Carney had been on tour with Denver beatdown band Short Fuse 59 and Chamber of Malice when the Short Fuse tour van was involved in the collision.
Mulhern had booked the tour and was handling merch for Short Fuse. Mulhern was the front man for Denver pop-punk band If I Fail, and ran the clothing brand Darkly USA. Mulhern used his brand to be an outspoken proponent of equal rights and stridently anti-racist.
The accident occurred early Monday morning on Interstate 5 south of Sacremento. Mulhern has been driving the van when the accident occurred. Both he and Short Fuse 59 drummer Patrick Carney were ejected from the van. The woman was arrested at the scene.
Carney is currently in hospital in a medically-induced coma due to brain injuries. He also sustained a number of spinal fractures.
UPDATE:
A GoFundMe has been launched to support Carney's medical expenses. Donations are welcomed here.
From the Sacremento Bee:
One person died, six more were injured and a DUI arrest was made in a Monday morning traffic collision on I-5 north of Lambert Road, a California Highway Patrol traffic incident summary said.
A 27-year-old Los Banos woman was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs when she struck the rear of the trailer being towed by a passenger van traveling north about 2:30 a.m., CHP said. The suspect, who drove a Ford Explorer, was arrested.
The collision caused the van to roll onto its roof in the center median and overturned the trailer, CHP said. The deceased victim was Colin Mulhern, 30, from Centennial, Colo., according to a Sacramento County Coroner’s Office report. Mulhern was the driver of the van, according to CHP’s incident report. Two of the other passengers were ejected from the vehicle when it rolled over. All six of the surviving passengers were transported to area hospitals to be treated for injuries, CHP said, with one of the passengers sustaining major injuries.
From the Denver Post:
All of the other five passengers in the van had been released from hospitals as of Tuesday morning, except for one man who had three spinal fractures.
Ashley Carney said doctors had inserted a tube to help her husband breathe.
“It’s basically a medically induced coma because of the brain damage,” she said. “He has a lot of swelling in his brain. He made some progress this morning. He was able to give us a thumbs up.”
