In some ways, this is a typical fatal crash, a negligent driver kills another person, in this instance, a fellow motorist. In other ways, something else must be going on because precious few drivers who kill go to prison; and ones that do nearly always involve DUI, yet there’s (apparently) no evidence of impairment, only recklessness presumably due to excessive speed.
The driver hit and ran, literally ran away, and didn’t get far.
The news reporting on this one was a bit thin; here’s the AZfamily version:
Man sentenced for fatal hit-and-run crash that killed Tucson native
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – A suspect has been sentenced in connection with the fatal hit-and-run crash that killed a Tucson native in Phoenix two years ago.
On Friday, June 5, Travis Walker Smith was in court in Maricopa County for his sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to reckless manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident with death or injury.
Smith was given 15 years in prison for reckless manslaughter with 621 days credit for time served. For leaving the scene of an accident with death or injury, he was sentenced to probation for four years. The probation will begin after his release from state prison.
Smith was speeding in his pickup truck when he ran a red light near 16th Street and Camelback Road in Phoenix and crashed into Dillon Mares’ vehicle in September 2024
Other reports tease some specifics, 12news mentions “Authorities said Smith was traveling 81 mph in a 35-mph zone at the time of the collision”.
CRASH REPORT is ADOT IncidentID: 4260012
IncidentDateTime: 2024-09-21 00:33:00
Phoenix FileNumber: 2401392548
Criminal Case
Maricopa County Superior Court criminal case CR2024-145432 ; minutes ; sentence minute
The 15 year prison sentence is above the presumptive for a non-repetitive, dangerous, class 2 felony. (see sentencing for how that works).
There are many, many motions and minutes, in particular ACO – Allegation of Historical Priors and ALG – STATE’S ALLEGATION OF AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES.
Previous History showing at caselookup:
CT-2019002071 TRAVIS SMITH Sierra Vista Justice (Traffic; something to do with suspended license; failure to drive on right side of road)
IA-2019001509 TRAVIS SMITH Sierra Vista Justice (IA?)
ND-2019001407 TRAVIS SMITH Sierra Vista Justice (ND?)
CR-201900416 TRAVIS WALKER SMITH Cochise County Superior (some sort of drugs charge)
Hit and Run
My usual grievances about hit and run apply here — it’s a throw-away charge. On the surface it’s a serious felony requiring any incarceration time to be served consecutively… he got some propagation. When he gets out of prison (in about 10 years or so with time served and good behavior) he’ll be on probation for 4 years. I’m imaging he won’t be able to have a driver’s license because of the manslaughter and hit-run convictions — will anyone be watching him?
Nobody will be watching him, he’ll be back to driving, without a license, without insurance and without remorse. Arizona, like all states, simply has no way to actually keep bad drivers off the roads. Driving on a suspended, revoked or merely non-existent license will remain a petty offense with fines and rarely any jail time for the few that are actually caught.