It was an unusual sight, this Toyota SUV propped on top of another vehicle leaning against a house and a tree.
The unusual scene was the result of the SUV leaving the right side of north Main Avenue, barreling down a slight embankment, narrowly avoiding trees, hitting a vehicle parked in a driveway and being launched about 10 feet into the air.
The Toyota came to rest on top of the parked vehicle. It damaged a garage roof and became tangled with a juniper tree.
The crash occurred about 10:20 a.m. Thursday in the 3700 block of north Main Avenue, just north of the Animas View Drive intersection, according to Durango Police Department.
The vehicle was traveling north – likely at a high rate of speed – when it left the road and darted toward the house. The crash occurred right where the speed limit switches from 35 mph to 55 mph.
Police declined to identify the driver as of 4:15 p.m. Thursday but said he was in stable condition and suffered no serious injuries.
Jim Ruetschle, homeowner, was sitting inside his living room watching TV when he heard the crash.
“It was like an airplane hit the house – and that’s an accurate quote,” he said.
Ruetschle said he walked outside and saw a cloud of dust. He then saw the Toyota on top of his 2023 Ford Explorer and heard the screams of a man clearly in pain.
“There was a guy who was just screaming up there in the car,” Ruetschle said. “He stuck his head out. ... He was just in a lot of pain, obviously.”
Ruetschle, who recently underwent a hip replacement, was in no condition to climb onto the roof to assist the driver. He notified law enforcement, and medics eventually moved the man into the backseat of the SUV and freed him through a rear passenger door.
The man was able to stand but was clearly in pain. He was loaded onto a stretcher and wheeled into an ambulance.
Police said the cause of the crash was under investigation. It was unknown why the driver left the road or how fast he may have been traveling.
“Based on the distance that the vehicle traveled after leaving the highway, I would anticipate that understanding the speed of the vehicle is going to be a big component of trying to figure out what happened – if that makes sense,” said Cmdr. Jacob Dunlop, with the Durango Police Department.
The Colorado State Patrol was called to help investigate the mechanics of the crash.
The vehicle is registered to a local resident, DPD said.
Ruetschle, who has lived at the house for 28 years, said this is the fourth or fifth time a driver has flown off the embankment above his house and come crashing down into his property. It is the third time in the past year, said his wife, Ann, who was working at the Durango Public Library at the time of the crash.
He said drivers tend to step on the gas and drive “like a bat out of hell” as they prepare to leave city limits – traveling north on U.S. Highway 550, where the speed limit switches from 35 mph to 55 mph.
He hopes this latest crash will convince the city of Durango or the Colorado Department of Transportation to lower the speed limit and install a guardrail above his property.
“We don't normally have vehicles that crash into houses. They usually stay on the roadway,” said DPD spokeswoman Amanda Garrison. “But it's not unheard of, especially in situations where we have roads above houses it tends to be a little more likely.”
shane@durangoherald.com
