Crash rips wheel from Audi parked on Fifth Avenue in Arnold

An Arnold resident is shopping for a new car at probably the worst possible time given the market after his Audi A7 was destroyed in a bizarre crash.

Edward Jarnagin said he bought the large luxury car new in 2016. It was almost paid off, but now it is headed to a salvage yard.

His neighbor, Crystal Saxon, said a SUV that hit Jarnagin’s parked Audi and another car came barreling down Fifth Avenue about 2 or 2:30 a.m. Saturday. The other car, hit first, sustained less damage — just some scrapes and damage to a side mirror.

Jarnagin’s vehicle was a different matter, looking like someone took a can opener to its right rear quarter panel.

Days after the crash, the rear wheel on the passenger’s side of Jarnagin’s car was sitting behind it, with part of the suspension still attached, as he was waiting for the car to be towed away.

“I still don’t know how in the world it took that whole wheel out,” Jarnagin said. “It was out in the street.”

No information about the crash could be obtained from Arnold police. A review of court records Thursday did not show any charges in connection with the crash.

Saxon, who runs the t-shirt business Elevate Arnold from her home with her husband, said she was awake when the crash happened in the 1300 block of Fifth Avenue.

“It was loud,” she said. “There was like a skidding, a slide and a thump.”

The SUV came to a stop in the street on its side. Saxon said the impact pushed Jarnagin’s car forward about 10 feet.

Saxon and a neighbor across the street, April Bontempo, said three women were in the SUV. Both said all three appeared to be intoxicated. The SUV had a California license plate.

Neighbors helped the women get out of the SUV. Bontempo said they were in a panic, shocked and scared, but did not appear to be injured.

An Arnold native, Jarnagin said he moved back to the city from Washington, D.C., in 2018 to help care for his mother, who was 94 when she died.

Jarnagin said he also had been up at the time of the crash, but was listening to music with earphones while watching a football game and didn’t hear it. A neighbor called to tell him.

By the time he got dressed, a police officer was knocking at his door.

“I said, ‘My goodness gracious,’ ” Jarnagin said. “It was a good thing nobody was hurt, though.”

Jarnagin said speeding is a problem on the street because it’s among the few roads in Arnold smooth enough to do it.

“What they need to do is put in some speed bumps,” he said.