Police ID truck driver accused of killing 1 bicyclist, injuring 4 more in Flagstaff

5/28/2021 ~ 7PM. The driver of a tow truck struck a group of six cyclists at the intersection of Butler and Beaver, Flagstaff. The driver was arrested; presumably because police say at the time he ran a red light, while the group of bicyclists was proceeding on a green. One bicyclist, Joanne Wheaton, was killed, and four or five others were injured.

The group was heading southbound on Beaver (beaver is one-way SB), and the tow truck driver was ?bound on Butler when he ran the red, according to police. These roads are relatively low speed; and they are main drags through a relatively constrained downtown area. This is adjacent to the train station.

A local news item (no new news).
Here is Azfamily.com:

Police ID truck driver accused of killing 1 bicyclist, injuring 4 more in Flagstaff
…Police say the driver of a truck that ran a red light and plowed into a group of bicyclists in Flagstaff will face charges. Investigators identified him as 58-year-old Normand Cloutier of Flagstaff…
A bicyclist is dead after a truck ran a light and plowed into a group of riders in Flagstaff Friday evening. Police also identified the 29-year-old cyclist who died. She is Flagstaff resident Joanne Wheaton…

Group Riding Statistics

There are very, very few reported bike-MV crashes involving 4 (or more) bicyclists; See here for some figures. On average there are fewer than one per year in Arizona ( 7 over a 10 year period).

Presumably, any group is more visible any one bicyclist.

Gofundme

A gofundme has been set up for the victims;

Criminal Case

According to the news story, the truck driver, 58-year-old Normand Cloutier, will be charged with “causing a death by moving violation”, which is 28-672, a class 1 misdemeanor. The charge is triggered by committing any of an enumerated list of infractions (in this case, running a red light) if they result in a death or serious injury. The criminal classification was recently, in 2018, upgraded (made more serious) from a class 3 to a class 1.

At the moment, case lookup (which is not necessarily complete) lists only one item against Normand Cloutier, a 2020 stop sign violation in Williams Justice court CT-2020001522.

A 28-672, if found guilty, would typically net some period of driver’s license suspension, order to attend “traffic survival” school, and/or some probation; there are also some provisions for monetary restitution but those limits are low and seems better dealt by civil suits for wrongful death/injury.

A couple of weeks after the crash it was reported that police are investigating sun glare as a factor, this seems relatively unlikey, especially given the orientation of the streets; i.e. they’re skewed by quite a bit, see map. It also mentions awaiting blood tests, which are likely to not reveal any intoxicants, but it’s good they’re checking. The sun thing isn’t supposed to have anything to do with the charge police are recommending, it is a low-level crime that requires no mens rea (“guilty mind”, i.e. no intent requirement), the driver either did the deed, in this case run a red light, or not… it doesn’t matter why.