Friend remembers man killed in suspected road rage hit-and-run
Mackenzie Stafford
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – 35-year-old Jacob Martinez was run over by a suspect on July 24, police said.
On the day of the incident, security footage showed Martinez getting out of his car, standing in the road, only for the other car to run him over and drive off. Martinez died at the hospital three days later, police said.
On Wednesday, KRDO13 spoke with a friend of Martinez who said he was the most caring, compassionate individual.
“Jacob was very hyper, and I do well with hyper people. He was my roommate off and on. And, he cared a lot. He was a very caring person. He liked to clean. He would always come and clean the house first thing in the morning. I could clean it at night, but he was going to clean it again in the morning. He always had to make my bed, get me up, and make sure I stayed up for the day because I tend to lie back down after having a heart attack,” explained Carol Hubbard.
Carol Hubbard tells KRDO13 that Jacob Martinez was her best friend.
“I could always depend on Jacob to be there for me,” shared Hubbard, “When I had my heart attack, he came to the hospital, told me he’d take better care of myself because he couldn’t lose me. And now I’ve lost him.”
She says he had spent the night at her home the day before.
“He had borrowed the…car that he had the day he got hit, and he came down. He stayed the night. He got up twice in the middle of the night to check on the car,” explained Hubbard.
Hubbard says he likely got out of the car to ask the other driver to back up since he was so protective of his friend’s car, which he was borrowing. She says that when the accident happened, he was on his way to her home.
“I had just talked to him and texted 30 minutes before this happened. So, I don’t know…I didn’t hear from him for days. And my daughter-in-law was like, ‘Have you heard from Jacob? Usually, he’s here,” shared Hubbard.
She says these past few weeks without him have been incredibly hard.
“I keep looking at the door, waiting for Jacob to come back through the door, and I know he’s never going to come back. It’s been hard,” said Hubbard.
A photo of the victim, 35-year-old Jacob Martinez, provided by family and distributed by CSPD.
A funeral will be held to honor the life of Jacob Martinez on Thursday.
“I know tomorrow’s supposed to be the final goodbye and everything for him. I just don’t. I don’t want to say goodbye,” said Hubbard, “He was only 35.”
Hubbard shared that she had known Martinez for 7 years. She says that at the start of their friendship, they’d stay up late into the wee hours of the morning with Martinez making her laugh the whole time.
“He’d just brighten the day. I close the curtains at night and stuff. He comes in and ties them up, moves them over. Whatever needed to be done. You know, he’d open the windows. It’d be zero out. He’s opening the windows to get fresh air in. We had to have fresh air let in every day…he’d open the windows and let the sunshine in. That was Jacob. He had to. And that was his way of, you know, brightening everybody’s day,” explained Hubbard.
The family of Martinez has asked for privacy during this time of grieving.
RELATED: Victim identified, suspect arrested in suspected Colorado Springs road rage homicide
Daniel Nations, the man accused of hitting and killing Martinez, is being held in the El Paso County jail without bond.
Carol Hubbard hopes Nations gets sentenced to life in prison to find justice for her friend Jacob Martinez.
Nations will be back in court on October 8, 2025.