Driver sentenced to prison after 2024 hit-and-run that left Lakewood community mourning parafencer

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — The driver who pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a hit-and-run crash in 2024, which left a Lakewood parafencer dead, was sentenced to prison on Friday morning.

Jimmy Lee Chavez, 41, of Commerce City had pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury and accessory to a crime on March 17, 2025. Both charges are felonies. As part of the plea deal, the other changes against him were dismissed.

On Friday morning, Chavez was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the charge of leaving the scene of a crash and six years for the accessory to a crime charge.

This case began in February 2024. On Feb. 23 of that year, the Lakewood Police Department announced it was searching for a driver who had struck a pedestrian near the intersection of Kipling Street and W. 23rd Avenue and then left the scene. The pedestrian, later identified as 29-year-old Terre Engdahl, died.

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Police issued a Medina Alert for the suspected vehicle.

Within the week, police said they had arrested Chavez in connection with the crash.

Watch our below coverage on his arrest, which happened at his home.

Denver7 looked up his prior court records and found that Chavez had had prior run-ins with law enforcement in Colorado dating back to 1999. He was previously charged with first-degree criminal trespass, felony theft, contempt of court, shoplifting, disorderly conduct, possession of drug paraphernalia, second-degree kidnapping, third-degree assault and carrying a concealed weapon.

In the hit-and-run case, Chavez was formally charged with leaving the scene of a crash involving death, tampering with physical evidence, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving after revocation prohibited, leaving the scene of a rash involving a serious bodily injury, and felony accessory to a crime.

In late February 2024, Denver7 spoke with Engdahl's loved ones, who said the Colorado fencing community was mourning the parafencer's death. Engdahl competed with the Denver Fencing Center, where he won several awards.

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Fencing community mourns the loss of man killed in Lakewood hit-and-run crash

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Olympian Jataya Taylor, a friend of Engdahl's and fellow parafencer, told us that she met him about a year and a half prior to the crash when she began training as a wheelchair fencer.

"They have no idea what they took away from his family, from us as a fencing family, from the community, and all the joy he brought to others," Taylor said of the then-unknown driver.

Just about a year after the crash, Chavez pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a crash involving serious injury and accessory to a crime, and was sentenced for those charges on Friday.

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