Tag: DUI

Driver kills man at south Phoenix bus stop

Scene of the Mesa fatal in September

A phrase you’ll often hear connected with these sorts of incidents is the victim(s) were in the “wrong place at the wrong time”. Well it seems that the wrong place is anyplace; and the wrong time is anytime morning noon or night.

About a week ago, Pima County “Administrator Chuck Huckelberry experienced life-threatening injuries after a driver of a car made an unsafe lane change and collided with another vehicle that caused it to careen into Huckelberry as he rode his bike…” tucson.com Incidentally, the driver was apparently charged with a 28-672, a criminal misdemeanor; the news story refers only to a “citation” which while true isn’t the usual nomenclature. Continue reading “Driver kills man at south Phoenix bus stop”

PHX bike ambassador dies after getting hit by drunk driver

Aug 20, 2021

Hans Hughes was very seriously injured last month after being struck at a downtown Phoenix intersection (1st and Filmore). He subsequently succumbed to injuries. Police say a drunk driver ran a red light, striking the bicyclist, and then fled the scene. He was later arrested…

This is fishy; where is the media and why don’t they ask questions?? “The identity of the suspect was not released” (KTAR). As of late September 24th??!! wtf? These are very serious criminal accusations, felony hit-and-run and (likely) manslaughter (blowing a red light and kill someone is also a misdemeanor);  someone has been arrested, why the secrecy? Continue reading “PHX bike ambassador dies after getting hit by drunk driver”

Police: Driver that killed officer ran red light

Not much remains of this full-sized SUV that was struck by a sedan at a right angle.

5/31/2021 Monday night. Phoenix police officer killed by reported red-light runner Police say the driver of a sedan ran a red light, apparently at extremely high speed, causing an apocalyptic crash with a Phoenix police full-sized SUV at the intersection Cave Creek Road & Greenway Parkway. Both drivers are dead; the sedan driver was identified as “31-year-old Christopher Castro, died at the scene. Police say speed and impairment by Castro are believed to be contributing factors to the crash… The force of the crash caused the officer’s vehicle to crash through a brick wall and into a gas station parking lot.” Continue reading “Police: Driver that killed officer ran red light”

Driver rams into two on sidewalk at Rural and Apache; suspect arrested

The driver of a white pickup careened onto the sidewalk, striking two ASU students walking on the sidewalk, injuring one seriously; the driver fled.

DUI remains a huge threat/problem; are we doing enough to remove illegal drivers from the road? The man arrested was FTA (failure to appear) since Jan 2020 on a November 2019 DUI and driving (then) on a suspended license which was suspended for yet another DUI. Continue reading “Driver rams into two on sidewalk at Rural and Apache; suspect arrested”

Tempe woman killed at Mill and Baseline in hit-run; suspect arrested

Crash Friday evening around 7:30PM, 4/2/2021. Tempe police say a driver of a pickup towing a trailer made a left northbound Mill turning onto westbound Baseline collided with a 41 y.o. female bicycle. She was dragged to her death, and the driver fled the scene. Police arrested a suspect, Raul Meza Portillo, around 1AM at his home. That he was held on suspicion of 2nd degree murder, as well as leaving the scene indicate police believe he both was intoxicated at the time, and caused the crash.

Continue reading “Tempe woman killed at Mill and Baseline in hit-run; suspect arrested”

Man killed by hit-run driver in Tucson backyard

12/17/2020, Thursday night (time not specified; also victim’s name not released). The driver of a Ford F-150 left the road near West Grant & North Oracle crashing thru a fence into a backyard striking and killing a person there, then ran away. Police think the driver may have been drunk.

Continue reading “Man killed by hit-run driver in Tucson backyard”

Hit and run driver drives over two women on Scottsdale sidewalk

photo: Tami M. Hoey

6/4/2020 7pm. A hit and run driver drove over the sidewalk and seriously hurt two women who were walking on the sidewalk in Old Town Scottsdale. Injuries are said to be serious, with one “fighting for her life”.

Police arrested a suspect, Allami Hussain, nearby a short time later.

Continue reading “Hit and run driver drives over two women on Scottsdale sidewalk”

Man on bike hit and killed by car in north Phoenix

5/6/2020 Wednesday around 11pm. The bicyclist was 61 y.o. Anthony Groth.

Driver was NB on 7th St; bicyclists was WB on Carol Ave. Police said the bicyclist failed to yield, (Carol Ave would have a stop sign). These directions were per fox10phoenix.com. The account at azfamily.com has a slightly different account, saying only that it was 7th Street “near” Hatcher. (Hatcher is parallel to and a few hundred feet south of Carol). So it’s not clear from the news statements whether or not it was at an intersection, or mid-block. The azcentral (Arizona Republic) has some apparent errors, sourced to the Phoenix Police spokesperson.

Continue reading “Man on bike hit and killed by car in north Phoenix”

Ahwatukee gunbattle

For the Ahwatukee archives: April 2019 high speed chase ending in a five-vehicle  crash and ensuing gunbattle; one federal agent’s truck careened over the curb and crashed through a wall.

Not exactly usual traffic but certainly not all that unusual — drivers jumping curbs, smashing lightposts, walls, killing joggers, etc. on a routine basis.

We see now, a year later, the now dead driver was severely impaired by drugs: “Only later, after an autopsy and toxicology report, was it revealed that she had near-fatal levels of methamphetamine in her body, which could have explained much of her [erratic] driving behavior…’The effect of methamphetamine would be related to increased risk-taking behavior, more aggressive behavior, potentially erratic driving,’ said Stripp, a forensic toxicologist … ‘They may speed, they may run red lights.'”

Continue reading “Ahwatukee gunbattle”

Drag racer convicted in fatal Ahwatukee crash

[by the way, this is just another incident where a driver drove up over the sidewalk. In this instance “only” a motorist was killed but obviously anyone on the sidewalk would have killed or seriously injured]

This is a historical/archive incident occurring nearly two decades ago… involving very fast driving as well as DUI, that as a result a Domino’s pizza delivery driver was killed. The claim that the delivery driver was at fault, he emerged from a driveway, for causing the crash did not prevent the fast & drinking driver from being convicted at jury trial of 2nd Degree Murder (and also hit-and-run).

July 4, 2001 just after midnight. Warner-Elliot, just S of Equestrian, Phoenix (Ahwatukee)

The crash involved 3 vehicles,  a third driver: Weston Doyle, 17 of yellow mustang was allegedly drag racing Sucharew. Dolye lost control but didn’t hit either of the other cars and crashed into a block wall. Sucharew was charged with 2nd degree homicide and leaving the scene (hiding in a yard!), was driving a white eclipse and the victim was driving a red Mitsubishi. story lead section B on 7/5/2001. Traveling between 70 and 80mph… “Alcohol was believed to be involved, but a driving-under-the-influence charge will not be filed because of the homicide charge, police said” Continue reading “Drag racer convicted in fatal Ahwatukee crash”

Driver dies in wrong-way crash on new Freeway

A 31 year old man has become the first traffic fatality on the new section of freeway that opened  in late December, just a couple of weeks ago. DPS reports that 31-year-old Josafath Rubio-Hernandez died while driving the wrong way on the freeway near Elliot Road and collided head-on with a semi-truck.

Police said they are still investigating if the driver was impaired. Most wrong-way drivers involved in fatal collisions are impaired (thought to be around 75%)

Continue reading “Driver dies in wrong-way crash on new Freeway”

Driver who killed Ann Day gets less than 5 years

Ann Day is a prominent member of a prominent Pima county family; a former County Supervisor, and was the sister of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’connor.

Something is rotten in Pima County. It seems to me cases with very similar fact-sets (extreme speed and recklessness, DUI, causing headon) routinely go for manslaughter elsewhere. Continue reading “Driver who killed Ann Day gets less than 5 years”

Occupants and Non-occupants

Early morning head-on freeway crash SR51 near Indian School. The driver known only as a 27 y.o. man from Ohio was driving a (new?) Corvette the wrong way. Police think the driver may have been impaired. Really? You don’t say. The name hasn’t been released but expect aggravated assault charges when he’s released from hospital.

Two Tempe officers hurt in wrong-way crash on SR-51 in Phoenix

Continue reading “Occupants and Non-occupants”

The drunken crash that led to tougher Arizona DUI law

DUI driver killed (at least) 3.

The Arizona Republic has been running a series of throwback stories from the files of report Don Bolles who was murdered in 1976, presumably related to mob investigations he was conducting.

This one, unrelated to mob, popped up this week Don Bolles files: The drunken crash that led to tougher Arizona DUI law

The quick synopsis was in the early morning hours of  Easter Sunday 1971 a very drunk driver at .251 BAC killed 3 people and left a 4th person in a permanent vegetative state. He was portrayed as being not particularly remorseful. He ultimately served 6 months of a 1 year sentence for a guilty plea to misdemeanor manslaughter. Continue reading “The drunken crash that led to tougher Arizona DUI law”