Cycling, traffic safety, traffic justice, and legal topics; energy, transit and transportion economics
Bicyclist Brett Karrle was seriously injured in a hit-and-run crash, Monday 10/10/2016 mid-afternoon.
Catalina Highway, south of Fort Lowell Rd, in Tucson, AZ (I can’t find that on google maps?). Presumably hit from behind but there are no details in the reporting.
The driver fled the scene, and was later located a short time later and arrested on hit/run and aggravated assault charges (suspected impairment).
Continue reading “NE-side Tucson serious injury — driver arrested”
10/1/2016 fatal victim: female. Northbound on Arizona Avenue near Ryan Road.
This is only a couple of miles from the scene of another fatality in April on Riggs Road near Arizona Ave. Donald Neu was struck and killed by a driver who “drifted” into the rather wide, designated BL.
I don’t know what “criminal charges are possible” means; but once more-serious criminal charges have been ruled out — cases where a same-direction motorist drifts causing a rear-end collsion with a bicyclist in a bike lane (or a shoulder), on its face, should trigger a misdemeanor “causing death by moving violation” charge, see arizona-already-has-a-vulnerable-user-law
Continue reading “Cyclist killed, another injured in Chandler crash”
June 7, 2016 ~ 5:30A 73 y.o. bicyclist Calvin Ray Sapp was killed after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in a bike lane — southbound on Higley Road midway between Ocotillo and Chandler Heights roads. A vehicle matching the description was found a short time later and a suspect was arrested. A later news story that evening said that the suspect “…told police he fell asleep and didn’t know what he hit. Officers said the bike and victim were dragged about 80 yards”. And carried some more-graphic pictures of the smashed in windshield. They also identified the Phoenix Police officer credited with finding the suspect vehicle. Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in Gilbert hit-and-run”
4/14/2016 Bicyclist Donald Neu was killed riding westbound Riggs Road near Arizona Ave when he was struck by a driver who “drifted” into the rather wide, designated BL.
Note that, according to that description of events, the driver has “failed to keep proper lane” (§28-729) and should be charged with 28-672, a criminal misdemeanor — assuming other more-serious charges are ruled out. Are police (in this case, MSCO) aware of this? In this triple serious injury, they were. See more about 28-672 .
28-735 is all well-and-good, and as far as I know can be “stacked” on 28-672, but it (28-735) is nothing more than a fine.
Continue reading “Bicyclist dies in Sun Lakes crash; driver ‘drifted’”
3/21/2016 ~ 8pm Bicyclist struck going northbound in the intersection of Queen Creek Road and Ranch House Parkway, Gilbert, AZ
The bicyclist was identified as 28 year-old Erik Alsaker.
The driver fled the scene. Police are looking for a dark colored, small SUV or sedan w/ heavy front-end passenger side damage.
10/29/2015 ~ just before midnight. 35th Avenue near Montebello Avenue, Phoenix. Victim 42 y.o. male Hussein Yunus. Driver was taken into custody, name not released, and later released. This is a residential area, with residences fronting a “busy” street, 35th Ave. The “pickup truck left the roadway and hit him. A witness said the bike rider flew about 100 feet…The driver was taken into custody. Investigators are looking into intoxication as a factor and are awaiting results from a toxicology analysis”. The news report video said something to the effect that “police believe impairment was involved but not necessarily alcohol”. Continue reading “Pickup driver loses control, kills bicyclist”
names not yet released. 8/13/2015 ~ 1AM. Near 51st Ave near Southern Ave in Phoenix. Both driver and bicyclist were southbound.
Suspect vehicle is a white chrysler minivan with heavy passenger-side damage has been located and police have spoken with the registered owner. KPHO Continue reading “Phoenix bicyclist killed in nighttime hit and run”
5/25/2015, evening. This will be most likely a so-called “non-traffic” crash because it appears to have begun in the private parking lot — so these injuries don’t “count”. Several serious, including one in critical condition with a head injury, and another with a partially severed leg. All pedestrians who were waiting outside for a table when an SUV driver somehow jumped the sidewalk and rammed into them while parking. Glendale police say they are investigating impairment and a driver’s surgical boot for possible causes. Continue reading “5 hurt when SUV slams into Glendale Restaurant”
Collision occurred near the east entrance of Walmart on Hunt Highway, San Tan Valley (San Tan Valley is in the far south-east Phoenix metro area) Friday evening May 22, 2015. The fatality victim was a passenger in a van that was rear-ended while stopped.
police say: the suspect(s) were impaired, hit-and-ran, hid evidence, lied to police…
Continue reading “San Tan Valley passenger killed in fatal hit and run”
[Update 4/8/2016: the update is there is absolutely no update on the suspect; it’s been over a year and half. Besides the hit and run, FARS has her at .12 BAC]
9/25/2014 12:23am. Hit run. Driver arrested, suspect intoxication. Suspect Nichole Jacinto. Victim 58 y.o. James Frankiewicz. Another news reports says was struck from behind in bike lane. The area appears to have a striped shoulder; it even goes on to be to the right of a RTO lane at Grant.
Location: southbound on Oracle Rd near Jacinto St. (yes, that is a coincidence; the suspect’s name is also Jacinto).
The most-detailed reporting is at bicycletucson.com
Continue reading “Tucson hit-and-run driver kills cyclist; woman arrested”
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”
Wed June 18,2014 (i think, the news story ran Thursday) ~ 6a. Victim: Kris Lee Chambers, 38. Suspect: Gerardo Luna Cazares, 25. Speedway just west of N Main, Tucson. Both westbound (rear-end); there is a bike lane in this area; in other words, it wasn’t as though it was a misjudgment of passing room. Continue reading “Tucson police: Driver who killed bicyclist was high”
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”
So this is weird — the weird part being that a driver who doesn’t seem to have been doing much if anything wrong, while the driver/victim seemed to have been doing everything wrong — was charged with Neg Hom.
The victim was a driver emerging from a driveway. The driver, Jeffrey David Meyn, who plead guilty to negligent homicide, was simply going straight along the main road; he was said to have just passed through a yellow-light (which is perfectly legal) when he struck the victim’s vehicle as it emerged from a driveway on Northern Ave just west of the intersection of Northern Ave and 12th St, Phoenix on June 25, 2012 (almost two years ago!). Continue reading “Phoenix driver pleads guilty in fatal 2012 car a-word”
Six wrecks in the past few years? Who is this guy’s insurance company? Continue reading “Kandas arrested for negligent homicide”