Dead Tucson bicyclist is collateral damage; Driver(s!) arrested

Matthew Lee Taleck (photo: Pima County Sheriff’s Department)

Tues March 21, 2023. A driver is accused of making a bad left, causing a collision with another vehicle at East Speedway and North Country Club Road. “The impact forced the (other vehicle) into the bicycle lane and onto a sidewalk, hitting bicyclist Isaiah Williams Escalante,” killing him.

Police say the driver making the left, Matthew Lee Taleck, was impaired, and was arrested and booked by police on suspicion of manslaughter and related charges. The other driver was arrested on an unrelated issue.

Continue reading “Dead Tucson bicyclist is collateral damage; Driver(s!) arrested”

Police: Bicyclist dies after impaired driver struck him on Tucson sidewalk

2/22/2022 ~2PM. Tucson police says a suspected impaired driver killed a bicyclist on the SIDEWALK.

Names were not released as of 2 days later; and no follow up reporting can be found on this fatal incident that occurred 10 months ago (?). Continue reading “Police: Bicyclist dies after impaired driver struck him on Tucson sidewalk”

Man drives up on sidewalk, killed pedestrian in his Tempe neighborhood

Joining the “seriously, how often does stuff like this happen?” file.

Answer is with alarming regularity.

No one is safe from traffic violence.

12/17/2021 7:30AM Pedestrian was walking along Cornell near Forest; this is the neighborhood adjoining Kiwanis park in Tempe. This is a residential area, traffic engineers would call Cornell Drive “collector” street.

The driver, of course, fled the scene. He was later arrested for susp of hit-and-run, and manslaughter and a few other things. Continue reading “Man drives up on sidewalk, killed pedestrian in his Tempe neighborhood”

Driver kills man at south Phoenix bus stop

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”

Bicyclist struck and killed by hit-and-run driver after falling into Thomas Rd, Phoenix

10/14/2021 ~ 7PM Hit and run. Few details, e.g. no description of suspect vehicle, the name of the victim was not released; the direction of the bicyclist is mentioned but not of the suspect vehicle (which police probably do know, but didn’t mention). Don’t expect to ever hear about this incident ever again, other than in 2021 statistics. “The media” just doesn’t follow up.

These “falling into the roadway” incidents typically happen when a bicyclist, especially when going counter-flow, fall off the sidewalk, for whatever reason and the sudden jarring of coming down off the curb into the road causes a further loss of control; and are subsequently struck by a passing motorist. These types of fatal crashed don’t happen a lot, but they do happen, here’s one from 2014 in Phoenix. (according to FARS, the bicyclist in the 2014 incident had a BAC of .18 ; which probably why the cyclist lost control while avoiding a telephone pole).

On other complaints — A more accurate headline would read:

Bicyclist struck and killed by vehicle A HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER after falling into roadway in Phoenix

Continue reading “Bicyclist struck and killed by hit-and-run driver after falling into Thomas Rd, Phoenix”

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”

Bicyclist killed in crosswalk collision w/motorcyclist

3/27/2021 (?) (time?) occurred at a crosswalk NEAR of 24th and Thomas, ~~that is a signalized intersection.~~ ~~Interesting choice of language police say the bicyclist was in a crosswalk at the time of the collision, “but it is unknown if the crosswalk was activated“.~~

I was wrong about it being at the intersection, now the “activated” term makes sense: the crash happened at the crosswalk at the western canal crossing of 24th Street,(the street views are presently out of date, showing construction which has since been competed) which has some sort of bike/ped signal that is activated by pushing a button; see comment below.

Continue reading “Bicyclist killed in crosswalk collision w/motorcyclist”

Hit and run driver drives over two women on Scottsdale sidewalk

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”

2-year-old dies walking on sidewalk

3/7/2020 ~9:40am. Add this to the list of seriously how often does this happen?. A driver “lost control” and drove up on the sidewalk, killing a 2-year old who was walking there with his parents. Hayden near Royal Palm Road, Scottsdale.

12news: 2-year-old dies after being struck by car in Scottsdale

Tempe’s Local Ordinance

[nearly all links below went dead when City of Tempe switched document control schemes. boo. Here is current (2024) direct link to Chapter 19 on municode. This archived proposal is handy because of highlighting]

[Council Meeting 8/15/2019 ordinance was finally passed; jump below to #reference for links to document; also see efforts beginning October ’19 to update this code] Continue reading “Tempe’s Local Ordinance”

Driver jumps curb, kills Mesa man on sidewalk

victim Dana Machado was killed while walking on the sidewalk

9/23/2018 9:30am pedestrian 48 y.o. male Dana Machado was killed when a driver drove onto the sidewalk where the victim was walking his dog. Police arrested driver Richard Cruz on susp of DUI and are awaiting tox results.

Continue reading “Driver jumps curb, kills Mesa man on sidewalk”

More sidewalk driving

6/24/2018 around 4pm Baseline near 7th st, Phoenix.

From the probable cause statement:

The defendant was operating a motor vehicle in the area of 700 E Baseline road where he was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes of Baseline Road. The def proceeded eastbound through the intersection of 7th street in the westbound curb lane of Baseline Road where he drove up onto the sidewalk along the north side of baseline road and struck the victim WHO WAS WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK…

Continue reading “More sidewalk driving”

13-year-old boy struck, killed on sidewalk in south Phoenix by susp impaired driver

12/1/2017 ~ 1:30pm A SB driver 19th Ave near Broadway, Phoenix while speeding and illegally passing vehicles (i.e. driving SB in NB lanes), lost control and drove up on the sidewalk, killing 13 y.o. Cordell Gooch

Police say there were “early indications that the driver showed signs of impairment”

Continue reading “13-year-old boy struck, killed on sidewalk in south Phoenix by susp impaired driver”

Sidewalk driver accused of murder in a ‘random act of violence’

A driver drove up on the sidewalk and killed a woman and injured her child near 41st St and Jomax, Phoenix.

Police describe the incident as murder, and a ‘random act of violence’. Quite.

Continue reading “Sidewalk driver accused of murder in a ‘random act of violence’”

ASU doctoral student killed in Tempe crosswalk crash

[ 1/29/2018 City of Tempe is considering changing cyclist right-of-way rules. This is potentially very involved and intricate. See both below, and also see letter and replies from Councilman Keating sent as CAZBike ]

[ 11/24 Updates on this shocking crosswalk fatality continue to ooze out from Tempe police, as the grieving family of Xiaoying Wen came to Tempe from China seeking answers; “Tempe police said both had the green light, but Wen failed to yield, and Tempe city law dictates that bicyclists must yield to motorists”. See below for this bad local law. LAB Bike Friendly GOLD? ]

The 11/21 News story says the crash occurred ‘last week” ? news media seems to report less and less.
Date: [Thursday 11/16/2017 ~ 4:15pm per comment below] Location: intersection of Rural Road and Vista del Cerro Drive
Continue reading “ASU doctoral student killed in Tempe crosswalk crash”