The car, which was traveling east on East 29th Street, left the roadway and crashed into a detached garage near the intersection of East 29th Street and Madison Avenue around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to an emailed statement from Loveland Police Department Public Information Officer Chris Padgett. The driver was 17, according to the Larimer County Coroner’s Office.
The owner of the home, Ed Kuntz, said he and his wife were watching TV in their home, only a few feet from the garage, when they heard a loud bang.
“We jumped out of our chair and we looked out,” Kuntz said Wednesday morning, recounting what happened the previous night. “The garage was on fire.”
Kuntz said neighbors and passersby immediately came to check on him and his wife, adding that the police department and fire department arrived within minutes.
“There was a big crowd here,” Kuntz said. “They were all right there for us. It was really nice.”
Kuntz’s entire garage was engulfed in flames, a space where he kept tools and other equipment, as well as his wife’s car, which was also destroyed. The side of Kuntz’s house is also partially damaged.
Padgett said the driver died on scene.
Loveland resident Mario Carrasco, who said he was at the intersection of 27th Street and Madison Avenue when the crash happened, described the car as flying into the garage.
“(The car) hit the tree, and caught air. It literally flew, probably 75 to 100 feet in the air,” Carrasco said, adding that the bottom of the car disconnected from the rest of the body upon impact with the curb and tree near the sidewalk in front of Kuntz’s home. “It flew sideways and landed sideways.”
Carrasco said that by the time he made it to the driveway of Kuntz’s home, that the garage was already in flames. He said he got within 10 feet of the garage, but it was so hot and things were exploding so he didn’t feel safe getting any closer.
“I was trying to holler just in case somebody was alive in there to get out,” Carrasco said.
Kuntz’s neighbor, Eric McDowell, who was among the first on the scene, said he ran out of his home as fast as he could after hearing a loud boom. McDowell saw smoke coming from the garage within 45 seconds of hearing the noise, he said, adding that he helped Kuntz and his wife get across the street safely.
He added that it was refreshing to see how quickly the fire department was able to extinguish the flames and how many people jumped into action to help, including an Amazon delivery driver and others driving by.
“Really good people out there just trying to make sure everybody was safe,” he said recounting the incident Wednesday.
Witnesses of the crash told Kuntz the driver was speeding at potentially 100 mph, Kuntz said, adding that he suspects the driver hit a tree first, which made pieces of the vehicle fly around his property. In an emailed statement, Padgett said speed measurements and verifications can take weeks.
The Loveland Fire Rescue Authority responded to the fire. Kuntz said that when he and his wife left their home around 10:30 p.m., that the fire was mostly out, but that LFRA was mopping up the fire and putting out small flames.
Eric McDowell’s wife, Ali McDowell, said she and her daughter were driving down Madison Avenue when they saw smoke.
“We saw the smoke and then we got through the intersection (at 29th Street) and the fire trucks weren’t even here yet … ” McDowell said, standing in front of Kuntz’s home Wednesday morning. “It was just plumes of black smoke. It was thick.”
McDowell said the garage became engulfed in flames quickly based on what she saw, adding that she believes the gas tanks within both vehicles may have accelerated the burn.
Padgett said the crash doesn’t appear criminal, but that the investigation is ongoing.
The Larimer County Coroner’s Office ruled the death a suicide, spokesperson Rafael Moreno wrote in an email.
