SOUTHEAST SPRINGS, Colo. (KOAA) — Sergio Garcia has lived near Chelton Road and Bailey Drive for nearly 10 years. He says speeding and reckless driving have been a recurring concern since shortly after he moved in.
“A lot of people treat it as a drag strip down here,” Garcia said.
Then, on June 30th, Garcia says he heard the sound he has become accustomed to hearing: engines revving outside his home.
“I was up late. I was getting ready to go to bed. And sure enough, I heard motors gunning like I always do,” he said.
Then came the crash.
“I just heard a big old crash. I mean loud, super loud,” Garcia said.
According to the Colorado Springs Police Department, a group of people were joyriding in a vehicle when it struck a curb, lost control, and crashed into two vehicles parked at Garcia's home.
Watch Michelle Reyes' full report in the video player below
Everyone inside the suspect vehicle fled the scene, according to police. Officers later contacted several people involved in the incident, but police say none has been positively identified as the driver. The investigation remains open.
For Garcia, the crash was especially frustrating because he says it was not the first time a vehicle had ended up on his property.
“This is actually the 3rd time that my property's been struck,” he said.
Garcia says the first incident happened in February 2024, when a vehicle turning too quickly from southbound Chelton went through his front yard, leaving tire marks and ruts.
Several months later, he says another driver struck and destroyed his mailbox and damaged a tree.
Neither of those incidents resulted in a police report, Garcia said. He says the property owner did not want to file a report after the mailbox was destroyed.
The June crash was different.
Garcia's wife's daily-use vehicle was totaled. His 1966 Chevelle SS, a collector car he had spent about a year restoring, was also damaged.
The front lower portion of the Chevelle was damaged in the crash, leaving Garcia with another setback just weeks before he hoped to get the car back on the road.
“They took away a year of my life, investing in that car,” Garcia said.
But Garcia says the damage to his vehicles isn't what worries him most.
He says there are children and pedestrians in the area, including a nearby crosswalk and schools along the road.
His own family has changed how it uses the property.
“I don't let my kids play out here anymore,” Garcia said.
“They can't ride their bikes out here. They can't ride their scooters out here.”
What CSPD says about enforcement
Garcia says he has asked police why he doesn't see more patrols along Chelton.
“The only thing I don't see coming down this road are cop cars,” he said.
CSPD, however, says it has not statistically identified the intersection of Chelton Road and Bailey Drive — or Chelton Road and Astrozon Boulevard — as a higher-risk location for recurring traffic safety concerns.
Police say traffic enforcement resources are prioritized using traffic data, with a focus on locations experiencing higher numbers of serious crashes and traffic fatalities.
CSPD says officers have issued at least four traffic citations on Chelton near Bailey during the past year. Three were for failing to yield at a stop sign, while another was for running a stop sign.
What the city says it takes to get traffic-calming measures
Garcia says he would like to see more police patrols and has suggested measures such as speed bumps or speed cameras.
But the city says there is no single number of crashes or complaints that automatically qualifies a street for a particular traffic-safety improvement.
Richard Mulledy, the city's public works director, said Traffic Engineering considers several factors, including crash history and severity, vehicle speeds, traffic volume, roadway design, pedestrian and bicycle activity and other safety data.
The city says that means a location does not automatically qualify for speed humps, cameras or other infrastructure simply because crashes or speeding have been reported there.
Based on the information currently available, Mulledy said the city would not say Chelton Road and Bailey Drive automatically qualifies for a particular engineering treatment or speed-camera deployment.
Residents can still ask the city to evaluate traffic and roadway concerns through GoCOS.
