A car came flying down the parking lot of the Walmart Supercenter on Meridian Market View in Falcon on Saturday night, striking a pedestrian and a parked vehicle before slamming into a pillar outside the store. The person who was hit suffered serious but non-fatal injuries and was hospitalized, while the driver also suffered serious injuries in the crash.
According to the Colorado State Patrol, the vehicle came flying down the parking lot before striking the person and a parked car, then crashing into the building. As reported by KRDO, the cause of the crash has not been released, and it remains unclear whether speed, impairment, a mechanical issue, or a medical emergency sent the car barreling through the lot. The Walmart sits in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado.
Why State Troopers, Not Local Police, Are Investigating
The State Patrol's involvement makes sense given the crash's location: the agency investigates collisions on state highways and unincorporated county roads, and it handles roughly 70% of all fatal traffic crashes across Colorado, per the Colorado State Patrol. Troopers use specialized reconstruction protocols to analyze vehicle speed and scene dynamics in crashes like this one, which unfolded on private commercial property open to the public rather than a public road.
The Walmart Supercenter itself, located at 11550 Meridian Market View, opened in July 2007 and has since served as a major retail hub for the fast-growing eastern El Paso County population. It is not the site's first brush with a serious public safety incident; the El Paso County Sheriff's Office investigated a parking lot kidnapping and sexual assault case at the same store in December 2018, according to a report from KOAA.
Parking Lots Are Riskier Than Drivers Assume
Nationally, commercial parking lots and structures see roughly 50,000 crashes a year, producing more than 60,000 injuries and 500 fatalities, according to National Safety Council data cited by the Spada Law Group. Low speeds in lots often create a false sense of security, even though a National Safety Council survey found that 66% of U.S. drivers admit to making phone calls behind the wheel in parking lots, while 56% text and 63% program GPS systems while driving through them, per the National Safety Council. Federal researchers note that non-roadway crashes in private lots and driveways account for 15% to 25% of all vehicle-pedestrian collisions nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, though such incidents are frequently underreported unless injuries are severe.
A County Already Near the Top for Pedestrian Deaths
The crash lands in a county already flagged as one of Colorado's most dangerous for people on foot. Between 2020 and 2025, El Paso County recorded 83 pedestrian fatalities, placing it among the top three deadliest counties in the state behind only Denver and Adams counties, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Statewide, pedestrian deaths climbed 98.4% between 2015 and 2025, reaching 127 last year and now accounting for nearly one-fifth of all traffic fatalities in Colorado, the agency reports.
That surge is part of a broader rise in road deaths across the state. Colorado recorded 701 total traffic fatalities in 2025, up from 689 the year before, driven in part by increases in impaired driving and deaths among pedestrians and cyclists, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Impaired driving alone accounted for 234 of those deaths statewide last year.
What Could Happen Legally
No charges have been announced in connection with the Falcon crash, and investigators have not said what caused the vehicle to speed through the lot. If troopers determine reckless driving caused the pedestrian's serious injuries, Colorado law allows for a vehicular assault charge under Colorado Revised Statutes § 18-3-205, a Class 5 felony carrying one to three years in prison and fines up to $100,000, according to Justia Law. Should alcohol or drug impairment be established, that charge would escalate to a Class 4 felony punishable by up to six years in prison. The State Patrol's investigation into what caused the crash remains ongoing.
