Woman dies after being hit by car on Ahwatukee sidewalk

file this under Are Cars Dangerous? and Seriously, how often does this happen? .

A jogger, later identified as 56 year-old Rene Karlin, was killed while jogging on the sidewalk near my home in Ahwatukee (city of Phoenix).

A car that crossed oncoming lanes of traffic struck and killed a woman on the sidewalk in Ahwatukee Wednesday morning.

At about 6:10 a.m., a 20-year-old man was driving a 2004 [the press release referenced below says 2007] Nissan Maxima heading east on East Warner Elliot Loop near 44th Street [the nearest cross street is Jicarilla according to crash report, however GIS coordinates place it closer to 44th]when the car veered across westbound traffic and hit a woman. Neither the victim nor the driver were identified.

The woman was taken to a hospital but died of her injuries, said Sgt. Tommy Thompson, spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department. The driver reportedly sustained no major injuries.

Impairment does not appear to be a factor, Thompson said, but added that it can’t be ruled out at this time.

www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/08/24/20110824ahwatukee-car-hits-kills-woman-on-sidewalk-abrk.html

Here is the original press release from the Phoenix Police azmediavision.blogspot.com , note that the driver’s name was not released. I wonder why not? Not having a driver’s name makes it difficult to follow-up, e.g. by searching court records.

The police report can be obtained : incident number 11001458721, and KARLIN. The report faults the driver (traffic unit #1) for #16 Inattention/Distraction — which of course would come as no surprise. A court record search shows nothing for the driver as of this writing (April 19, 2012). The case may still be open, it’s not possible to tell from the online crash report. Fatals often take 6 months or more (why so long?) to come to final conclusions. There is a box X’ed (though apparently in pen, not via computer) saying conditions influencing driver: Medications.

This is ADOT incident=2571103. and  FARS case #40503. The driver was tested and results were negative for alcohol. There were two positive drug results, neither particularly remarkable with regard to potential impairment: 401 (“amphetamine”) and 996 (“Other”), more fully, 996 is:

Use the translation table to assign the three-digit code. If the drug is not on the list, use code “996” Other Drug, except for drug confirmed as “post crash” administered. Caffeine and mild analgesics are coded “996.”

Final Dispositions

A 28-672 charge (based on what predicate violation, “Failure to keep proper lane”?) was filed, but after the (at the time) one year statute of limitations had expired, so the charge was dismissed. (Coincidentally, in 2012 it was increased to 2 years). There was a civil case. See comments below.

 

4 thoughts on “Woman dies after being hit by car on Ahwatukee sidewalk”

  1. According to the supreme court publicaccess website, Austin Randall Melancon was cited on Mar 4, 2013 for
    “Moving violation resulting in serious/fatal injury.” Case number M-0741-4648776, Phoenix Municipal court. The statute of limitations for this misdemeanor is 2 years instead of the usual 12 months: ARS 28-672(H).

  2. Case against melancon (after calling 4 offices) was dismissed by motion “because the statute
    of limitations had expired before the case was filed”. ARS 28-672 has a 24 month limit. Crash was 2011-08-24, case was filed 2013-03-04; i.e. well within 24 months…

    I called the prosecutor’s office back, they told me that the expanded statute of limits clause was added in 2012, and was not effective retroactively. Not sure if the VCU, in their review of the case for felony charging, took that into account. I had called them on 2012-08-23, reminding them of a 1 year statute of limits, and they assured me that they take such things into account. That’s an unfortunate sequence of events.. not sure if it’s worth complaining to them.

    See Legislative history for 28-672

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