Fiery crash kills driver, damages Main Street store By Jessica La Plante News-Chronicle A 23-year-old Green Bay man was killed and two East Side apartments were evacuated early Sunday morning when a vehicle traveling down Main Street jumped a curb, struck a building and burst into flames. Police said Ramiro Muro-Gutierres was thrown out of the driver's side of a sports utility vehicle when he failed to negotiate a curve in the 1300 block of Main Street. Muro-Gutierres was pronounced dead at the scene, while his passenger, a 17-year-old Hispanic male, received minor injuries. Green Bay Police Lt. William Bongle said the name of the passenger is not being released at this time. When officers responded to the accident at 3:30 a.m. Sunday, they found the SUV completely engulfed in flames. The car was positioned diagonally in the road in front of the Jalisco Grocery Store at 1354 Main Street, he said. Before coming to a stop, the skidding SUV struck a light pole, punched a hole in the side of the Main Street building and sheered off a natural gas meter. Although the building did not catch fire, two upstairs apartments were evacuated when rescue workers detected a natural gas leak. Police temporarily blocked off a stretch of Main Street while technicians from Wisconsin Public Service contained the leak. Bongle said the accident is still under investigation. However, preliminary reports list speed and alcohol as two possible factors in the crash. Although damage estimates were not available Sunday, the owner of the Main Street store said he expects the repairs to be costly. A Green Bay father of five, Jose Plascencia said because the storefront was vacant, he had let the building's insurance policy lapse. "We just started remodeling to do another business," Plascencia said, standing in front of the hollowed-out store front Sunday afternoon. A trail of black stains marked the spot where the SUV had skidded out of control and caught fire. Plascencia said he learned about the crash from a friend who called him at home early Sunday morning. When Plascencia arrived at the scene, the SUV was still burning. Plascencia called the crash a major setback, and said it will delay his plans to convert the Main Street store into a Mexican restaurant. Except for two upstairs apartments, he said the building was unoccupied at the time.