{"id":12876,"date":"2026-03-09T16:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T22:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/driver-smashes-through-florida-road-roundabout-damaging-cyclist-sculptures\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:33:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:33:41","slug":"driver-smashes-through-florida-road-roundabout-damaging-cyclist-sculptures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/driver-smashes-through-florida-road-roundabout-damaging-cyclist-sculptures\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver smashes through Florida Road roundabout, damaging cyclist sculptures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A car crashed into \u201cEndurance,\u201d a highly visible sculpture by Joshua Weiner in the Florida Road roundabout, on Sunday evening. No injuries were reported. (Courtesy of Durango Police Department)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A Durango woman driving Sunday on Florida Road crashed through the roundabout near Chapman Hill, severely damaging three metal cyclist statues, according to police.<\/p>\n

The crash occurred at 9:20 p.m. A Honda Accord appeared to have been traveling southwest toward Durango when it jumped the roundabout, struck the statues and came to rest on its driver\u2019s side<\/p>\n

Police identified the driver as Sonya Dees, 38, of Durango.<\/p>\n

Dees was uninjured, but at least three of the five statues were damaged. The five, 800-pound cyclist sculptures were created by Boulder artist Joshua Wiener and installed in August 2012.<\/p>\n

\"Dees\"
Dees<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango Police Department spokeswoman Amanda Garrison said Dees was arrested on suspicion of impaired driving after the crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe driver initially refused to get out of the vehicle but eventually complied with officers,\u201d Garrison said in a text message to The Durango Herald<\/em>. \u201cPolice said the driver showed signs of impairment and admitted to drinking alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to an arrest affidavit, Dees was swaying, had bloodshot eyes and had an alcoholic odor on her breath. She also reportedly admitted to having been drinking earlier that night and was found to have three 100 milliliter containers of 99 Brand liqueur in her possession.<\/p>\n

\u201cDees explained that she was driving too fast, went over the curve at the entrance of the roundabout, hit the median and flipped the Honda,\u201d the affidavit said.<\/p>\n

The affidavit said Dees\u2019 license had been revoked for two previous drunken driving convictions.<\/p>\n

\"Damage
Damage to sculptures making up the art installation \u201cEndurance\u201d by Joshua Wiener was caused when an impaired driver drove into them Sunday night. (Scout Edmondson\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The affidavit said Dees refused to provide a chemical sample, so officers obtained and executed a blood warrant. The blood draw was completed at Animas Surgical Hospital about 1:45 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe driver was arrested and booked into jail,\u201d Garrison said. \u201cThe case remains under investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos included with the DPD\u2019s Facebook post show the car resting on its driver\u2019s side atop one of the sculptures, its rear windshield smashed and air bags deployed.<\/p>\n

\u201cA crash damaged some of the bicycling sculptures in the Florida Road roundabout,\u201d the post said. \u201cThe good news is that there were no injuries. We\u2019re grateful everyone is OK. Please continue to slow down, pay attention, and use caution in the area as damage is assessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Damage
Damage to sculptures making up the art installation \u201cEndurance\u201d by Joshua Wiener was caused when an impaired driver drove into them Sunday night. (Scout Edmondson\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In a Facebook post Monday, the Durango Police Department warned drivers against driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, those bicyclists were artwork. Next time, they could be someone\u2019s loved one,\u201d the post said.<\/p>\n

The post said Sunday night\u2019s crash was a \u201csobering reminder of the dangers of impaired driving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A car crashed into \u201cEndurance,\u201d a highly visible sculpture by Joshua Weiner in the Florida Road roundabout, on Sunday evening. No injuries were reported. (Courtesy of Durango Police Department)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cDriving under the influence of alcohol or drugs puts everyone on the road at risk \u2013 drivers, passengers, bicyclists and pedestrians alike,\u201d the post said. \u201cIf you are drinking or using drugs, do not get behind the wheel. Make a plan before you go out. Use a sober driver, call a ride or stay where you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

sedmondson@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"First
First responders assess a car that crashed into \u201cEndurance,\u201d a highly visible sculpture by Joshua Weiner in the Florida Road roundabout, on Sunday evening. No injuries were reported. (Courtesy of Durango Police Department)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

injuries reported; police suspect impairment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1065,1064,28,254,994],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-12876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-police-department","tag-florida-road","tag-headlines","tag-road-crash","tag-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12876"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18713,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12876\/revisions\/18713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12876"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=12876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}