Saturday March 19, 2022 9:45 a.m. Suspect arrested; 26 y.o. Ryan Machado; Manslaughter, driving under the influence, leaving scene of a fatal, etc.
All were eastbound on Sunrise Dr in the area of Potomac
Sunrise drive is a fast, wide, arterial road with raised median, bike lanes and turn pockets
I don’t actually know this, but it appears likely the driver struck the bicyclists in the bike lane, so I’m setting the tag “drifted” (as opposed to in a general shared travel lane, in which case the tag would be “struck from behind”)
“Husband, wife killed while riding their bikes in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills | Crime and courts | tucson.com” https://tucson.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/husband-wife-killed-while-riding-their-bikes-in-tucsons-catalina-foothills/article_0133cfae-a7d5-11ec-91e2-ab2db1086390.amp.html
Criminal Case?
Well, it’s been over two years — what happened to Mr. Machado? Was he indicted? There is no news reporting that I can find with any sort of follow up.
The only things that show up in generic court search are some things from 2016/17/18 involving minor drug violations, and not having driver’s license (which means he gets pulled over a lot…
| Case Number | Name | Party Type | Birth Date | Address | Court |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J-0202-TR-201800606 | RYAN ZECHARIAH MACHADO | DEFENDANT | 08/1996 | TUCSON, AZ 85711 | Douglas Justice |
| J-1001-CR-166022472 | RYAN ZECHARIAH MACHADO | DEFENDANT | 08/1996 | TUCSON, AZ 85713 | Pima County Consolidated |
| J-1001-CR-166206142 | RYAN ZECHARIAH MACHADO | DEFENDANT | 08/1996 | TUCSON, AZ 85713 | Pima County Consolidated |
Sent email to COClegalrecordsweb@sc.pima.gov on June 27, 2024 who very quickly replied: Case CR20221034 , the indictment was filed 3/29/2022.
Subsequently, I did get to the search page which did work just perfectly for this case searching by name, and some, but not all, of the minutes are available immediately online…
Pima County Clerk of Court Search page
As of Feb 2024 the defendant rejects plea deals, and as of May it’s still headed to trial.
Added this case to the criminal spreadsheet.
Not that the driver isn’t 100% at fault here, but, I thought I would share some local knowledge on that location. First, it is high speed for both cars and bikes. It’s about 2-3% downhill. Cars often travel at 60+mph. The lanes are narrow for that speed. There is a left hand bend in the road and a somewhat unusual intersection to the right. The bike lane narrows and is often covered in pea sized gravel. Honestly, with the combination of this intersection and the overwhelming propensity for most drivers being distracted, this collision was sadly inevitable. My thoughts go out to the victims and their families.
Drivers need to get off their effing phones!!!
He was drunk and under the influence of marijuana. I dont belive his phone mattered at that point. He needs to go to jail for a long time.
ping.
headed to trial as of May 2024