Driver who killed Allen Johnson finally cited
I don’t know much more than that, but Allen’s brother Brad wrote me today and said the driver had finally been cited with driving in the bike lane and violating the three-foot rule. The driver has apparently moved out of state.
More on Allen Johnson here.
–Erik Ryberg
August 13th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
That’s all? Don’t you guys have a negligent manslaughter law in AZ?
August 14th, 2009 at 9:52 am
…so apparently the only way a motorist gets cited with violating the 3 foot rule is if they should really be charged with manslaughter for killing someone.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:58 am
That’s what we’ve got..
the 3 foot rule serves as the
bicycle exemption clause in
Arizona’s negligent manslaughter law.
It would be a REAL problem if a
cyclist hit another cyclist from
behind and killed them.
August 14th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
What kind of penalty for this infraction, Eric?
I wonder if the move out of state had something to do with this ? This is really kind of demoralizing. If an off-duty policeman can be killed this way, there is no hope for the rest of us.
August 14th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
[...] tucsonbikelawyer.com is reporting that the driver has (finally! Today is Aug 13, that would make it about 5 months!) been cited for traffic violations in connection with the incident. Nothing official but this pretty much indicates that the county prosecutor will not be bringing any criminal charges. safety cyclist fatality [...]
August 14th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
“That’s all? Don’t you guys have a negligent manslaughter law in AZ?” Well, sure. But the general consensus (not that i am happy with it) is that unless a motorist is doing something pretty flagrent, prosecutors won’t bring any criminal charge. Inattention is considered “something that could happen to anyone”. And to be quite honest, when a prosecutor goes to the trouble of bringing that type of case, he often gets slapped down, see e.g. the long sad tale of Angela Cruz, the driver responsible for the death of Sean Casey (sorry, it’s a long article, scan down to “Sean Casey”)
http://azbikelaw.org/blog/double-jeopardy-and-flawed-logic/#more-30
August 18th, 2009 at 11:25 am
There’s the old inattention…
and there’s the ‘new’ inattention.
A bee flies in the window and
causes distraction. That can
happen to anyone.
But these fads and faddish
behaviors are proactive in
creating additional threat on
public streets. Our fear of
saying “No” and the personal
definitions of diversity
that lack social acknowledgement
are leaving us impotent to
maintaining civil order.
You know what causes me a blank
stare? All the people driving
with no hands on the wheel. Maybe
it’s generational and I should
just get with it. But I think as a
cyclist, I feel more socially
interactive and dependent than those
driving around in their own metal-
cubed world.
September 7th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
The driver who has now moved to another area is military–that’s the reason for the move.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Read the paper. Watch the news. It was an accident. Get over yourselves.