2 dead after crash into cement power pole in Coon Rapids, Minn.

COON RAPIDS, Minn. (KMSP) - Two people died after a car crashed into a power line pole in Coon Rapids, Minnesota Saturday night. 

Police say the crash happened at 9:12 p.m. near 121st Lane and Northdale Boulevard NW, which is near the Northstar Commuter Rail Station. 

People who live nearby have been left wondering how the driver could be going so fast around the curve on the road. 

“On a road that’s 40 miles an hour…they had to have been doing an excess of twice that on this curve, you know,” said Ken Pack, who was one of the first people at the scene. 

Pack is still shaken by what he saw Saturday night. He was heading to Home Depot when he noticed a car flying past, so he made a U-turn. 

“And as soon as I heard the screeching, I knew they weren’t going to make the curve,” Pack said. “I thought I was going to come up to a rollover, but they hit this reinforced concrete pole instead.” 

Pack ran to help, but then the car caught fire. 

“The passenger had been ejected, and she was gone, I could tell that right away,” he said. “We tried putting out the fire and we were getting it out a little bit—it wasn’t a huge fire, but it kept popping back. I was just thinking I want to get this guy out of here. I don’t want him to burn up in case he’s alive.” 

Police said both the driver, a 39-year-old man, and the passenger, a 38-year-old female, who both lived in Coon Rapids died on impact. 

“It’s just a terrible, terrible tragedy and I wish I could have done more,” Pack said. “It was an unsurvivable accident, just from what I saw last night and what I saw today.”

Investigators are still looking into the circumstances of the crash.