Authorities have found the driver responsible for a hit-and-run incident that occurred at a home at 2001 Crestview Drive early Saturday morning.
Cpl. Nick Stasi with the Durango Police Department said that sometime early Saturday morning, a Durango man, who was suspected of driving under the influence, drove off the residential street, through a fence and over a swing set before crashing into a garage. He backed up, then drove away.
Armed with information collected at the scene of the crime, property owner Tom Probst located a vehicle – a Chevrolet truck – that was a possible match Saturday afternoon, then notified Stasi and the DPD.
“Tom drove by it, and it was tucked up against a house, and he called me and said, ‘Hey, this might be it,’” Stasi said. “So, I knocked on the door, and the guy admitted to it right away. Case closed.”
The man, in his 50s and whose name has not yet been released, is being charged with hit and run and reckless driving.
“He was driving home from the bars. It is suspected that he was likely intoxicated,” Stasi said.
Rik Anderson, who has lived at the address for about a year and a half, said he didn’t hear anything.
“The neighbor’s didn’t hear anything; it was probably in the middle of the night, but we’re speculating,” said Anderson, who was cleaning up the wreckage around his yard. His wife and two children were out of town.
“It looks like they came speeding up here, drove through the fence, got airborne, because there are no tire tracks, landed, drove through the swing set, drove into the garage, and backed out over the swing set again, and then drove out here.”
The tire tracks told a story of dangerous, reckless abandon.
“It did extensive damage to the garage and totaled the swing set,” Stasi said. “These kids don’t have a swing set to play on anymore.”
Stasi said the truck lost the driver’s-side mirror, the radio antenna and part of a Denver Broncos license plate cover, all found at the scene. That evidence helped Probst later identify the vehicle.
Anderson, a surgical sales representative, called it the craziest thing that’s ever happened in what he called “an otherwise great neighborhood” on Durango’s west side.
“The police were knocking on my door saying, ‘Hey, you might want to take a look at your garage.’ I feel pretty violated right now. It’s a hit and run. They smashed a bunch of my stuff up, did some property damage and took off.”
Anderson rents the property from Probst, who was raised at the address, and both agreed it was surprising that the vehicle was drivable after the incident.
“I cant believe it still (ran),” Probst said.
bmathis@durangoherald.com
