GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Fatigue doubtless led to a pickup truck driver’s crash final 12 months that killed two bicyclists and injured 14 different riders on a bridge in a Phoenix suburb, authorities stated Tuesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board launched its ultimate report in regards to the February 2023 crash on the Cotton Lane Bridge in Goodyear, 19 miles west of Phoenix. It stated a significant component within the collision was the driving force’s “diminished state of alertness, doubtless as a consequence of fatigue.”
Contributing to the severity of the bicyclists’ accidents was the driving force’s pace and lack of response as soon as the crash sequence started, in line with the NTSB report.
Pedro Quintana-Lujan, 27, was initially booked right into a Phoenix jail on suspicion of manslaughter, aggravated assault, endangerment and inflicting critical damage or loss of life by a transferring violation.
A charging doc initially launched by Goodyear police stated Quintana-Lujan instructed officers the day of the crash that he was driving within the left of two northbound lanes of the bridge when his steering locked and he drifted into the vacant proper lane, then into the adjoining bike lane the place he heard “a sound much like metallic.”
But a preliminary NTSB report stated two investigators individually checked his truck and located no points.
A later NTSB report stated Quintana-Lujan smoked marijuana the evening earlier than the Feb. 25 crash into the group of Phoenix space cyclists.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office stated Quintana-Lujan had a small quantity of THC — the principal psychoactive constituent of cannibas —in his system, however famous that Arizona regulation doesn’t set an ordinary for proving impairment by THC solely.
County prosecutors declined to pursue felony prices, saying there wasn’t sufficient proof.
The case was despatched again to the Goodyear Prosecutor’s Office the place 11 misdemeanor prices have been filed towards Quintana-Lujan. He is going through a jail sentence if convicted.
Goodyear Municipal Court officers stated Quintana-Lujan has a pre-trial convention on Oct. 16
A name to Phoenix legal professional David Cantor, whose regulation agency is representing Quintana-Lujan, was not instantly returned on Tuesday.
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