A driver rolled a Jeep Cherokee on a highway ramp Wednesday morning, and five juveniles bolted from the SUV on foot into a nearby warehouse district, police and witnesses said.
The same Jeep hit a Volvo in southwest Denver just moments before the rollover.
Jenna Baker said she was driving about 11 a.m. near West Mississippi Avenue and South Lipan Street when a Jeep Cherokee with tinted windows came roaring out of a turn and smashed into the Volvo at high speed.
“The Jeep was going way too fast — I think they lost control. They were going 50 to 60 (mph) around the corner,” Baker said. “They went straight into the other lane of traffic.”
After the crash, Baker approached the Volvo to see how the driver was doing, she said.
“It was destroyed,” Baker said of the car. “The whole front end was absolutely crushed.”
Baker opened the door, she said, and the driver was on her cellphone, crying.
The driver had immediately called someone to say she had been in a wreck, Baker said.
The woman also told Baker that her brother had died in a crash in Denver exactly two years ago Tuesday.
The driver told Baker she had pain in her knee. She was treated at the scene but not taken to a hospital.
“It was amazing she didn’t get hurt,” Baker said.
Immediately after the crash, the Jeep sped away, heading east on Mississippi toward Interstate 25.
“It was the craziest thing I’ve seen in my life,” Baker said, “to see them take off like that.”
The Denver Police Department verified the crash involving the Jeep and the Volvo.
Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said it was the same Jeep that rolled just minutes later.
The rollover happened about 11:05 a.m. on the westbound ramp onto West Sixth Avenue from I-25, Jackson said.
Several police cars set up a perimeter in the area of West Eighth Avenue and Umatilla Street as they searched for the suspects.
Police took five people into custody in about 30 minutes.
Officers initially took two juveniles into custody, and bystanders pointed out the others.
“They were very helpful,” Jackson said of the onlookers.
The Cherokee that crashed was reported stolen overnight Tuesday.
The suspects all were taken to a local hospital as a precaution. Details on injuries, if any, were not immediately available.
