DENVER — Two Denver metro families are shaken and calling for safer choices behind the wheel after drivers crashed into their homes in Commerce City and Lakewood over the weekend.
The Commerce City Police Department said a suspected drunk driver hit three cars on Interstate 270 late Friday night before careening off the highway and smashing into the living room of a Commerce City house on E. 54th Ave. Police said the suspect was arrested and faces several charges, including driving under the influence.
Evelyn Luevano, who lives in the home with her parents and two siblings, said she had to get stitches in her arm after she was injured in the crash. She said, thankfully, no one else in her family was hurt. Now, they're trying to salvage any belongings still inside the house.
"My sister was literally two feet away from the truck hitting her. This could have just ended terribly," Luevano said. "This is a place we called home, so it's very sentimental as well, and we're just trying to collect ourselves as a family and doing the best we can to just try and get back to normal life."
She said the suspected drunk driver crashed through their back fence before ramming through the back of their home, taking out most of the laundry room and kitchen.
"The loss of our home is obviously a big part of this, as well as the trauma that we're all going through. It was very traumatic and overall just horrible," she said.
Less than two hours later near South Sheridan Boulevard and West Arizona Avenue in Lakewood, a different driver crashed through a garage around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. The owner of the home Jason Fernandes reached out to Denver7 about the crash, saying, "Please help me get attention on this issue so that we can get speed humps and additional stop signs installed on Arizona Ave."
A neighbor's security camera caught video of the driver smashing through the garage, backing into a power pole and fence, then speeding off. The Lakewood Police Department said they are investigating the crash but officers have not made any arrests.
"He was speeding down this road and turned a left directly into my garage. My car, that was in the garage, got pushed through the rear wall," Fernandes said.
He said the crash left his garage and new SUV damaged and represents a larger speeding problem he said his neighbors have raised concerns about for decades.
"People try to avoid the traffic on Sheridan by turning on to here, and we do live near some bars and nightclubs as well. So, I think that's all a factor," Fernandes said. "There's just so much speeding and racing on the street that folks don't feel comfortable parking on the side of the street anymore."
He said he wants to see speed humps and more stop signs in the neighborhood to slow drivers down.
"I think the biggest thing that we need are some speed humps... What happened to us clearly happened at high speed," Fernandes said.
The City of Lakewood's Communications Manager Angela Ramirez said while Sheridan Boulevard is maintained by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), the city is taking steps to address speeding in residential neighborhoods. Ramirez said the city reduced the residential speed limit to 20 mph for neighborhood streets in September 2024.
She said the city is also trying out speed cushions on some collector streets to crack down on speeding. Ramirez said peed cushions are similar in shape and size to speed humps but include small gaps, or cutouts, that allow large vehicles and emergency responders to get through easily. The city said the improvements are planned for the next month or so and will include speed cushions and associated signage at the following locations:
- Simms Street: 3 speed cushions between 26th Avenue and 32nd Avenue
- Alkire Street: 4 speed cushions between Dakota Avenue and Ohio Avenue
- Youngfield Street: 3 speed cushions between Colfax Avenue and 19th Avenue
- Dartmouth Avenue: 1 speed cushion east of W. Hoyt Way
Despite cleaning up different messes, both families share a similar message: irresponsible driving has consequences.
"You just want to hope people are going to be good citizens and make the right decision, not only for others, but for themselves," Fernandes said.
