Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
You can’t spell carnage with c-a-r…
5/17/2015 Sunday afternoon Glendale, AZ 8100 block of Bethany Home Road: 3 vehicles, two dead, many hospitalized. Police say speed didn’t “contribute” but there you have a head-on on a high-speed arterial with multiple motorist injuries and fatalities. Continue reading “2 dead, many hospitalized after Bethany Home Road crash”
Interesting look back at a 2004 DUI fatality; and sentencing. Here’s a news story from the crash which the DUI, red light running driver nearly wiped out an entire family, killing 2 and seriously injured another, the fourth family member escaped with only minor (physical) injuries: Continue reading “Drunk driver who killed two asks to be set free”
That looks like it used to be a very fast car…. Pinal County investigators think alcohol might have been involved (incident Sunday? 3/1/2015 11:26p):
Continue reading “PCSO: 1 killed in fiery crash; driver tried to bribe Pinal deputies”
Red light running, gunplay, road rage, DUI suspected, felony flight. Oh my.
Sunday 2/15/2015 ~ 9:30pm I-17 / Thunderbird Rd, Phoenix
Victim: Constance Swenson
Suspects: Dustin Sommerfield and Christina Moses Continue reading “Woman killed by red light runner”
[ Wrong-way driver Stephen B Martin has pleaded not guilty in early February to all charges including felony counts for 2nd Degree Murder, several endangerment, along with some minor marijuana-related charges. CR-2015104415 (minutes). “Martin’s blood-alcohol content was 0.313 percent when a sample was taken at the hospital, records show” ]
[ Wrong-way driver Stephen B Martin has pleaded not guilty in early February to all charges including felony counts for 2nd Degree Murder, several endangerment, along with some minor marijuana-related charges. CR-2015104415 (minutes). “Martin’s blood-alcohol content was 0.313 percent when a sample was taken at the hospital, records show” ]
Victim: Megan Lange, 26/F southbound on I-17 in central Phoenix ~ 1AM (Tuesday 1/27/2015) was killed by wrong-way driver, who police suspect was impaired. Then today (thursday) it was in news: “A hospital lab analysis of Martin’s blood sample had a blood-alcohol content level of 0.313 percent, nearly four times the state’s legal limit of 0.08 percent, a DPS officer said” Continue reading “Phoenix fire dispatcher dies after I-17 wrong-way crash”
Wrong-way driver Patricia Murphy who caused crash with two fatalities on loop 202 in May 18, 2014 has plead not guilty to all charges including two counts of 2nd degree murder. Police say in June that Murphy “had a blood-alcohol content of 0.18, more than twice the legal limit. A urine test showed Murphy also tested positive for opiates and benzodiazepine” Continue reading “Wrong Way driver from May freeway fatalities pleads not guilty”
weird motorist crash fatality, Chandler Blvd, near Desert Foothills Parkway in Ahwautkee (Phoenix). Driver was driving erratically prior to crossing over and crashing head-on into another car. Continue reading “Police: Driver killed in Ahwatukee crash swerved into traffic”
[Update: Sentencing here]
11/19/2014: 1 fatality (possibly a second, later) and several injuries when semi driver Brian Knoll drove into a line of stopped traffic on I-17 near Bell Road. He’s been charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault and endangerment; and entered a plea of not guilty to all charges on 12/3. Continue reading “Semi driver charged in I-17 fatality”
Check if this is a “traffic” fatality…. Crashes on private property “don’t count” as traffic crashes; however if the “unstabilized event” first occured on the public road, then it should.
Tuesday 12/2/2014 ~ 2:20am. Glendale Ave near 59th Ave, Glendale, AZ. Ford (appears to be an F-150) white pickup. Victim: Sean Brannen, male 47. Continue reading “Man dies after crashing truck into Glendale barbershop”
lovely. Police say Valerie Cervantez, 26, and an unidentified man were fleeing 10/30/2014 ~9pm in a Camaro; when they crossed over and crashed head on into victim Sylvester Romero who was retuning home from work (limo driver, one might guess) driving a Lincoln town car. Continue reading “Triple motorist fatal caused by fleeing driver”
The Chandler police force is reeling from the deaths of two officers only three days apart in unrelated traffic collisions…
(on-duty) City of Chandler Police “Officer David Payne, 37, was sitting on his police motorcycle at a red light at about 12:40 a.m. 10/31/2014 Friday when a car rear-ended him at the intersection of Chandler Boulevard and Pennington Drive.” Causing his death. “Police arrested Tempe resident Brian Yazzie, 31, on suspicion of manslaughter and hit-and-run for his role in the collision”. Oh yeah, plus his license was suspended in (and, presumably, since) 2010. — azcentral
Continue reading “Chandler officers killed in separate wrecks”
Aug 2, 2014 ~ 7:30AM The driver of a car was speeding and possibly impaired when she failed to stop at t red light, rear-ending a stopped motor scooter driver, killing him. The delay in the arrest was apparently due to the driver’s hospitalization. Julie Ann Gutierrez was arrested 8/19 on suspicion of manslaughter; and MSCO is awaiting blood test results that could bump up the charge to 2nd degree murder.
Statistical note: motor scooters (and mopeds, and motorized bicycles) are categorized as motorcycles. Continue reading “Car-scooter crash in Mesa leaves 1 dead”
A Garda armored-truck driver, who was reportedly using his cellphone, flipped the vehicle on its side Tuesday (7/1/2014) morning, smashing in the hood of an oncoming pickup truck carrying a family of three, according to Phoenix police officials. The incident occurred around 8:15 a.m. on 51st Avenue north of Elliot Road, said Sgt. Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman. The driver of the Garda truck said he picked up his cellphone to call his next stop when he lost control of the truck and swerved into oncoming traffic, Crump said… Officials said the (driver of the pickup) is in very critical condition at a local hospital… — azcentral
Oh yeah, this one:
A woman accused of driving her SUV about 90 mph before colliding with a car stopped at a red light in east Mesa, killing both occupants, was arrested on Monday. Mesa police booked Ingrid I. Morataya, 35, on suspicion of manslaughter and other charges after she was discharged from a Valley hospital…. The driver and the passenger in the car struck by Morataya’s Toyota FJ Cruiser — Guadalupe Madril, 37, and Jason Aguilera, 33 — died instantly of massive injuries from the violent collision, according to court records… azcentral.com Continue reading “Woman with DUI history arrested in Mesa fatal collision”
