The driver in a horrific Father’s Day crash was traveling at speeds of over 120 miles per hour when his Chevy Camaro catapulted off of a lip in the road and hit a parking garage, Arapahoe County Sheriffs said.

David Pfalmer, 39, believed to be of Centennial, was driving with his father, Garry Pfalmer, 70, in an incident which witnesses say started out as a street racing challenge and ended in a ball of fire.

David Pfalmer was traveling east on East Dry Creek Road at Yosemite about a mile from the I-25 exit. Garry Pfalmer was the passenger in the vehicle, according to sheriffs. The posted speed limit on that portion of East Dry Creek Road is 40 miles per hour. 

The incident happened at around 1:30 Sunday afternoon to the horror of dozens of people who were out on Father’s Day walks and errands.  

Garry Pfalmer was remembered by friends as the dedicated father of four adult sons. He had recently retired and moved to Colorado to be near family. 

“We heard a loud boom, but we didn’t hear the sound of brakes screeching,” said Amela Ajanovic, who showed up to work on her day off at the Walgreen’s across the street from where the crash happened. “It’s so sad. And on Father’s Day, too.” 

“It was so scary. We had no warning,” said Hailey Bradshaw, also a Walgreen’s employee.

Bradshaw said she smelled burning rubber inside the store. Bradshaw and Alanovic said traumatized customers came into the store with their heads in their hands after witnessing the horrific scene.

“A deputy came in to get surveillance video of the crash and it showed people walking on the sidewalk just minutes before the accident,” said Alanovic. 

No pedestrians were injured in the incident and it’s unknown what happened to a possible second car which witnesses told investigators may have been involved.

A friend said Pfalmer moved to Colorado within the past year and lived with one of his children.

“He raised four sons by himself. He was truly a happy person,” said Brooke McWilliams. She said she recently made the trip to Colorado to visit Pfalmer, who was a heavy machinery mechanic in Alaska.

Sunday’s crash was the second ironic tragedy to beset Pfalmer ‘s family, as Pfalmer’s father, William Pfalmer Jr, was an Anchorage police officer who was shot and paralyzed while stopping a stolen vehicle containing three youth. He died almost 70 years to the day of Sunday’s accident.

One of Pfalmer’s four sons, Michael, said that his mother is traveling to Colorado “to lay her son to rest.” He wrote in a GoFundMe that it was his father’s wish was to have his ashes scattered “at the Canadian border of Alaska in the Yukon River. This way, his ashes could flow through the entire state where he was born and cherished throughout his life.”

Arapahoe County Sheriffs are asking anyone who has video or still photos of the incident to contact them through their emergency dispatch at 303-795-4711 or email Deputy Benjamin Sears at [email protected]