SALEM — A Lynn man slammed his car into a stone wall on Lafayette Street over the weekend — the same spot where a Peabody motorcyclist crashed and died while trying to flee police just three days earlier.
Isaias Macario, 42, of 34 Lilly St., Lynn, was rounding the treacherous turn toward Marblehead in a red Kia Saturday night when the car spun out of control and slammed into a stone seawall, according to police reports.
Macario then drove his heavily damaged vehicle away from the scene, police said.
A short time later, Swampscott police spotted him on the side of the road trying to change a flat tire and summonsed him for leaving the scene of an accident and operating without a license.
Diane Hamlen, who lives across the street from the crash site, was sitting on her front porch with about five guests when they saw the Kia race up the road around 11:30 p.m., she said.
The car spun out, slammed its back end into the wall, then spun around again and crashed its front end, she said.
"If he had hit that wall head-on at the rate of speed he was going, he would not have gotten out of that car," said Hamlen.
Pieces of the car, including a hubcap, were still at the scene yesterday, Hamlen said.
The sound of screeching tires was so loud that alarmed neighbors from nearby side streets rushed out to see what had happened.
It's been a familiar scene.
Last Wednesday night, a 22-year-old Peabody man died after crashing his motorcycle into a telephone pole and seawall along the dangerous curve.
Police said they tried to pull over Anthony Espinal because he and two of his friends were speeding down Palmer Street, and one was doing a "wheelie."
Espinal stopped briefly, then took off at an extremely high rate of speed down Lafayette Street, police said.
He had been driving with a learner's permit, which prohibited him from driving after sunset, police said.
A year ago, a Salem High School senior died after his car struck a telephone pole along the same stretch.
Five years ago, a box truck lost control while rounding the turn, became airborne and crashed into Hamlen's porch.
"People just don't appreciate the fact that that's a difficult corner to negotiate at high speeds," Salem Police Captain Brian Gilligan said.
For residents of this neighborhood where many homes overlook the water, life has been anything but serene the last few days.
"My husband said, 'That's it. I'm getting a cowboy hat and cowboy boots because this is the wild, wild West,'" Hamlen said.
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salemnews.com.
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