Chris516

Drunk Driving Accident Kills Tucson Cyclist - Tucson News Now

"December is already off to a deadly start when it comes to drunk driving accidents. The driver of a pick-up truck crashed into a bicyclist. It happened Friday night on Old Spanish Trail. And police say alcohol was involved. This is Pima County's latest drunk driving accident. But this time, it was a bicyclist not a driver who was the victim.

Old Spanish Trail, it's a popular destination for bicyclists all over Tucson. But Friday night, it would become the scene of a deadly drunk driving accident.

"This was very unusual and tragic," says Dawn Barkman with Pima County Sheriff's Department. Just before 9 p.m. Friday, deputies say 26-year-old Melissa Marie Arrington was driving under the influence of alcohol.

Arrington was heading South in her Ford pick up truck on Old Spanish Trail when she hit Paul L'ecuyer who was riding his bike in the same direction.

"He actually impacted the windshield and then flipped over into the bed of the pick up truck," says Barkman.

The investigation has revealed that Arrington continued to drive for at least another 800 feet before stopping. L'ecuyer was pronounced dead at the scene. "He apparently was traveling in the correct direction on the right side of the road, he was on the shoulder of the roadway," adds Barkman.

Lane chandler and his wife Linda have only been bicycling for a few months. Friday's tragic accident reminds them you can never be too careful. "The bicycling lanes that they have and provide for us that makes it a lot safer for us but if somebody is drunk going down the road, then anything can happen as it obviously did last night," says Lane.

Melissa Arrington was booked into the Pima county Jail on one count of second degree murder. Authorities are still investigating the accident."

A friend told me about this.

I have no sympathy for the driver. I am glad Pima County is taking this seriously.

mr_bill

This is very sad.

The crimes took place December 1, 2006.
She was found guilty of multiple counts in late 2007.
In 2008, she was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison.

-mr. bill

chasm54

Wtf? We're starting threads about deaths that occurred nine years ago?

Chris516

Wrong link, my mistake. But I am glad she was convicted.
That was not my intention. I meant to post the one I was told about. When I talk to the friend that told me about it, later today, I will find out more.

Korina

Pffft, amateurs. Humboldt County, now, we know how to kill cyclists. And pedestrians. And other drivers. Here's a North Coast Journal article to prove it; Crash

Bottom line is, un-maintained, winding, rural roads + drugs/alcohol (on both sides) + a near pathological refusal to wear seatbelts = lots of dead/maimed citizens.

B. Carfree

I love it when motorists don't wear seatbelts, especially the drunk ones. It has the potential to reduce the total CARnage they cause.

Roads, maintained or not, don't kill. Motorists refusing to operate safely on them is what kills.

Korina

I call it 'natural selection in action', particularly idiots without cars (i.e. people on bikes in dark clothes, no helmets, and randomly crossing busy streets). It would be fine, except they usually ruin the day of innocent bystanders.

northernlights

The road looks very narrow and fast with no sidewalk, not much room for driver error.

The bike lane markings are very faded and barely visible even in the daylight, going by the current Google streetview. So at night they won't be visible at all.

jgadamski

Bike lanes make it a lot safer for us but if somebody is drunk going down the road, then anything can happen as it obviously did last night," says Lane.

That painted stripe did doodley squat. That, my friends, AIN'T facilities, that is legal murder.

zonatandem

Have ridden in Tucson many thousands of miles since 1978.
Ridden Old Spanish Trail hundreds of times.
Been hit by a drunk in a pickup truck outside of Tucson at 45 mph decades ago..
Drunk was ticketed and his license suspended for 90 days.

I-Like-To-Bike

Real dang humanitarians, ain't ya? Bicycling advocacy can really be advanced through such forward thinking; NOT!

fthomas

MADD had an impact and DUI drivers face stiffer penalties, but it still does not seem to be enough. Add DUI of illegal narcotics or even prescription drugs and the danger for everyone escalates. Driving while texting is as dangerous as the previous two, but there seems to be really lax enforcement where I live. A traffic officer on a motorcycle could reach their quota easily just within 3 major intersections close to where I live. Law enforcement is not doing their job diligently in my opinion leaving everyone at greater risk. Humbolt County in California is really bad, but the roads in the low crime areas in South Orange County appear to me to be far more dangerous than they were three years ago.

I am all for stepped up enforcement!

Korina

Dude, do you have any idea how much I would love for people to act like responsible adults? As much as I would like to shake sense into everyone who texts while driving, or bicycles like a ninja, all I can do is shake my head and jeer their poor choices. It's black humor, but it's the only defense I have.

I-Like-To-Bike

You call your thoughts "black humor"; I'd call it a "black attitude." Perhaps you should loosen the straps on your helmet.

JoeyBike

I am thinking that a responsible adult would likely not be riding a bicycle on a poorly maintained highway frequented by impaired motorists. A sure way to NOT get hit by an idiot is to avoid giving every one of them a fair shot at you.

Those cyclists that do such things also expose themselves to the natural selection process.

It's not ALL about the crazy motorists folks. We make our choices in life, take risks, and pay the price occasionally. Then some of us are outraged when the game of chance finally catches up to us.

Korina

Depends on your options. Around here, they are few. If you work in one city and live in another, you have three routes; 7.5 miles on Highway 101 (flat, w/wide, colored shoulder), 11 miles on Myrtle Ave./Old Arcata Road (okay, but rural and it has its hairy spots, and is quite rolling), and 9ish miles on Samoa Blvd./the bridge (rural, virtually no shoulder, and there's the terrifying bridge). What you can do is take all the precautions you can, and hope for the best. And no, there aren't a lot of jobs here, so you have to take what you can get.

This is why so many people here have advocated (loudly and long) for the Humboldt Bay Trail, using the abandoned rail prism paralleling the 101, but the North Coast Railroad Authority has panic attacks at the words 'rail bank'. They are the ones I really, really want to throttle. The county did strongarm CalTrans into installing a trail down that corridor (not sure exactly where), as a condition of being allowed to put in the overpass they're so desperate to build.

Sorry for the rant; this has been a sore spot for me for the entire 17 years I've been here.