WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — FOX8 is working to learn the identities of the three people who died in a head-on crash on Highway 74 Monday afternoon.

It started when the driver of a stolen car led Forsyth County deputies on a chase. Deputies say the suspect made a U-turn and drove the wrong way onto Highway 74, crashing into a car.

Deputies said the suspect died along with two people in the other car. At this time, deputies are not releasing any information about the people involved.

FOX8’s Caroline Bowyer talked with a man who saw it all happen.

He’s traumatized by the whole thing and is putting himself in these people’s shoes. knowing he could’ve been the one driving on the highway.

“It could have been anybody, but it’s just the fact that things got so intense, so fast like that,” said Stephen Cowan, who witnessed the chase and crash.

Cowan watched from his grandmother’s yard off Baux Mountain Road. He said the driver of a stolen silver Grand Mercury Marquis came down the road followed by deputies.

“I saw him go around the roundabout…flying onto the highway…he turned around and hit someone,” Cowan said.

Within seconds, Cowan said he heard the sound when two cars crashed head-on.

“You know when you twist the bag that has air in it then it pops? It sounded like that, but 1,000 times louder,” he said. “The sound of the metal crushing together was something that you could have heard miles away.”

Cowan drove past the scene and took pictures of the stolen car and the other car involved, which was occupied by two people who just happened to be on Highway 74 at the time.

In the photo, you can see the smoke from where deputies said both cars caught on fire.

“It wasn’t like a small fire,” Cowan said. “Both the cars were completely covered in flames.”

Cowan said it’s hard knowing three people lost their lives in the cars and knowing he takes the same route to visit his family members and friends every day.

“At that point in time, it could have been me coming to take that exit,” he said. “It’s just really an eye opener, and it just makes you not take life for granted at all.”

A spokesperson with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office told FOX8 the North Carolina Highway Patrol would be releasing the names of the victims.