ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — One person is dead and another is in the hospital after a crash early Friday morning. One car hit a coffee shop on Hampden Avenue in Englewood at a bend where crashes are becoming a common occurrence.
Aaron Reid was walking his dog in the area around 3 a.m. Friday morning when he came across the crash. Colorado State Patrol said the person who caused the crash died as a result. The other driver, a 50-year-old woman, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
"The car was on the side for this one and that one was crunched into the building," explained Reid.
One of the drivers crashed into Caribou Coffee — the first business around the Hampden Avenue bend.
Crashes around the bend are unfortunately too common. Some of the missing bricks from Friday's crash were replaced replaced days ago from a crash last month. There was another in October, where a car went through part of the kitchen. Next door at Pino's Place, a car took out most of their back walls years ago. The owner there says he worried for his employees and customers.
"I'm concerned to go in the back myself sometimes — especially nighttime," says Pino's Place owner Pino Saverino.
When the car crashed through Saverino’s restaurant, he was forced to close for six weeks.
Years later, he remains grateful none of his employees were here at the time.
"If there is someone there at 5 o’clock in the morning they would’ve been killed, to be honest," Saverino tells Denver7.
Whether it’s guardrails, trees or a brick wall, he hopes the owners of the Shoppes at Cherry Hills or CDOT will do something to protect the building.
"I think it’s an issue in the future," said Saverino.
A spokeperson for the Shoppes at Cherry Hills tells Denver7 the crash was the fourth into the building and the third within the past year:
"The Shoppes at Cherry Hills Village want to express their sympathy to the families, our tenants and the community for the recent fatality that occurred on Hampden Ave this morning. ... We have contacted both the City of Cherry Hills Village and Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) each time and have continued to try to work with City and CDOT to find a solution to mitigate the dangerous curve in the design layout of State Highway 285 (aka Hampden Ave); requesting a guard rail or barrier of some sort to be constructed to protect the safety of drivers and our tenants. The car crashes have come at a cost of life to the drivers and a loss of business for our tenants.
"Our tenant, Caribou Coffee has been forced to shut down their business several times until the building could be repaired. It is imperative that a guard rail, reflective signage and barriers be provided along the State Highway to prevent future accidents. In response to our requests, we were told the guardrail was not in the budget. As a community, we cannot wait for another fatality to find a solution."
CDOT did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Caribou Coffee.
