Driver arrested in quintuple(!) fatality — excessive speed and red-light-running alledged
A driver was arrested on suspicion of five counts of manslaghter (see homicide categories) and 3 aggravated assaults. What makes this unusual is the absence of suspicion of DUI. We shall see what the prosecutor does with it. This is a tantalizing comment: “data recorded when the truck’s airbags deployed substantiated detectives’ findings that Myers was driving at ‘an excessive speed,’ “. Data recorder? We (the public) often hear that these sorts of crashes are tragedies but not crimes — because the prosecutor claims that they can’t prove anything.
The claim of 65 in a 40mph zone is probably key because in Arizona excessive speed is defined as more than 20 over, §28-701.02
To successfully prosecute a manslaughter charge, it must be shown that the defendent’s conduct was reckless:
” ‘Recklessly’ means… that a person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk … of such nature and degree that disregard of such risk constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation” §13-105(9)(c)
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Driver arrested in deadly car crash
Carol Sowers
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 5, 2007 12:00 AM
Scottsdale police on Tuesday arrested the driver of a pickup truck that collided July 19 with a car, killing five family members of a Tempe family and injuring three others.
Robert L. Myers, 25, of Chandler, was speeding when he ran a red light and crashed into the family’s 1994 Cadillac DeVille at McDowell and Granite Reef roads, police said.
The crash closed the busy intersection for nearly six hours.
Myers was arrested at his home on suspicion of five counts of manslaughter and three of aggravated assault.
He was booked on felony counts because of his “reckless speed” and running a red light, said Sgt. Mark Clark, a Scottsdale police spokesman.
Investigators determined that Myers, who received minor injuries, was traveling at 65 mph in a 40-mph zone.
“I think he was expecting the arrest,” said Lt. Frank O’Halloran of the police department’s traffic section.
Among the dead were three children, ages 4, 9 and 11.
Initially, investigators said there was no evidence that Myers, or Guadalupe Pedraza, 26, the Cadillac driver, were speeding or under the influence of any illegal substance.
But data recorded when the truck’s airbags deployed substantiated detectives’ findings that Myers was driving at “an excessive speed,” Clark said.
His case will be turned over to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution.
Myers was on his way to meet his mother when he raced his Chevrolet Avalanche westbound on McDowell and crashed into the Cadillac.
The Cadillac was turning north onto Granite Reef.
The five dead were identified as: Noelia Robolledo-Sanchez, 36; her husband, Antonio Pedraza-Olivares, 30; their son Antonio Pedraza-Robolledo, 4; and their nieces, Jennifer Ramirez-Pedraza, 9, and Mayra Ramirez-Pedraza, 11.
Besides Pedraza, the driver, the other two who were injured were Noelia and Antonio’s daughters, Abigail, 9, and Adriana, 12.
Of the eight people in the Cadillac, Pedraza and two children in the front were wearing seat belts.
One child in the backseat also was wearing a seat belt.
The other four in the back were not restrained, including 4-year-old Antonio, who died instantly.
Pedraza was issued a civil seat-belt citation and another for not having a child-safety seat in the car.