[ SUSPECT ARRESTED: Alexandra Mendez in connection with this fatal hit and run. By the way, “people” often say hit-and-run drivers not immediately captured in effect can’t be prosecuted  — tell that to Christophen Wakefield Chevalier who went to prison for 5 years after driving up on a Phoenix sidewalk in 2013 killing someone and fleeing. He did his best to hide the car, but it just wasn’t good enough]

HIT AND RUN ALERT; suspect vehicle believed to be a blue 2017 or 2018 Ford Fusion (see MSCO bulletin below). Area of Northern Avenue near Reems Road, Glendale, Sunday 12/19/2021 @ 6:51pm…

MCSO is asking the public’s help on identifying and locating a vehicle and driver that was involved in a hit & run collision on 12-19-21 in Glendale. If you are able to identify the vehicle or its owner, please contact MCSO at 602-876-1011. Please reference report # IR 21-036232. pic.twitter.com/7JJcn4XRb9

— Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (@mcsoaz) December 20, 2021

12/19/2021 6:51pm Northern Ave east of Reems Rd Hit and run driver fatally struck bicyclist 29-year-old Chris Owan and fled westbound on Northern Avenue. Suspect vehicle is described here.

This area is near Luke AFB, and is semi-rural. A sample location shows a very broad right-of-way but only two lanes (one lane in each direction) is paved with the rest being wide unpaved shoulders. The reports don’t indicate where on the road the driver struck the bicyclist; drivers who flee are more than likely to be impaired so it’s likely the driver was partially or completely off the paved portion and struck/sideswiped the bicyclist with the right side of his vehicle. [tagging both drifted and strike-from-behind until the report comes out]

That the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (and not Glendale PD) is investigating implies it is in unincorporated area.

News item

Criminal Case

Alexandra Mendez  was arrested in early early January on suspicion of hit/run fatal. According to MSCO/court documents, she was drinking at Coyote Cafe (about 3 miles away) prior to the collision, from which she fled.

According to court documents, Mendez was known to have been at the Coyote Cabaret in Glendale on the night that Owan was killed.
“She consumed at least five alcoholic beverages while at this establishment,” police said in court documents.
A witness reported that Mendez was in her vehicle alone when she left Coyote Cabaret, which is three miles from the scene of the hit-and-run crash.

The suspect vehicle was found 12/25, many days after the death.

See other instances of prosecutions involving only circumstantial evidence.

The suspect had a speeding ticket in avondale muni court in July 2019. 00701052983 1 SPEED GREATER THAN REASONABLE AND PRUDENT; and some sort of criminal troubles (an F3 plead down to an F6 apparently involving theft valued at $12,100) in 2016 that has yet to be resolved Maricopa County Superior court CR-2016145723. (minutes); there are some case minutes regarding probation revocation hearing 1/6/2022 that might have been a result of her arrest(?)

Anyway, the case-at-hand is CR-2022100572:

• Maricopa County Superior Court Case CR-2022100572
• Case Minutes.

She was indicted on two class 2 felony counts: 13-1103A1 (F2) MANSLAUGHTER-RECKLESS, and 28-661B (F2) FAIL TO STAY/WITH DEATH/INJURY

Plead guilty to the felony hit-and-run 3/24/2023, “Non Dangerous – Non Repetitive” means little to no jail, and definitely no prison time. The plea minute confusingly says sentencing is 4/28 (which doesn’t seem like happened) and a status conference scheduled for 5/19/2023. The plea deal drops the manslaughter altogether.
There is some suspicious verbiage in the plea, what had this girl been up to??

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED… the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office agrees not to allege Defendant’s prior felony conviction; the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office agrees not to allege multiple offenses committed on multiple occasions; the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office agrees not to allege the Defendant was on felony probation as reflected in the plea agreement

I don’t know what all that means, but the sentence was 4.5 years in prison, so something else is definitely going on, as “simple” hit-run w/ death commonly results in a few days in jail. Were she impaired, it would have been presumptively 10.5 years, so running was probably a good idea.