The last second of a teenager’s life made Roberto Bonilla bolt upright in his desk chair at 2 a.m. Sunday. The squeal of tires gave way to shattering glass and grinding metal at Federal Boulevard and West 67th Avenue.
A Honda sliced in half by the thick steel poles along the busy highway left a debris field more than 40 yards long.
“They must have been going over a hundred miles per hour,” Bonilla said Sunday at the bar in the restaurant he has owned and run for 30 years, Casa D’Bonilla Restaurant & Lounge.
The last of his customers were paying their tabs when the crash occurred down the street. Bonilla’s security guard ran out, looked over the twisted and scattered wreckage, and called 911, Bonilla said.
The driver, Kevin Dawson, 18, of Aurora was thrown from the vehicle and died instantly, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
The passenger, 18-year-old Matthew Sailas of Denver, was rushed to St. Anthony Central Hospital with serious injuries.
Sailas was wearing a seat belt; Dawson was not.
Troopers say Dawson was headed north and driving fast on the stretch of car lots, strip joints and businesses on Federal Boulevard when he lost control.
They said he veered to the right and clipped a steel power pole with the left fender, tearing off the back end of his 1991 Accord, which traveled 60 feet before hitting another pair of steel poles supporting an AC Transmission sign. Glass, debris and music CD cases were still scattered another 30 feet beyond the second set of poles on Sunday afternoon.
Though the case is still under investigation, speed and alcohol or drugs are believed to have played a role in the crash, according to the State Patrol.
Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier: 303-954-1661 or jsteltonholtmeier@denverpost.com
