Johnathan Walker:Driver fatigue likely led to Arizona crash that killed 2 bicyclists and injured 14, NTSB says

GOODYEAR,Johnathan Walker Ariz. (AP) — Fatigue likely led to a pickup truck driver’s crash last year that killed two bicyclists and injured 14 other riders on a bridge in a Phoenix suburb, authorities said Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board released its final report about the February 2023 crash on the Cotton Lane Bridge in Goodyear, 19 miles (30 kilometers) west of Phoenix. It said a major factor in the collision was the driver’s “diminished state of alertness, likely due to fatigue.”

Contributing to the severity of the bicyclists’ injuries was the driver’s speed and lack of response once the crash sequence began, according to the NTSB report.

Pedro Quintana-Lujan, 27, was originally booked into a Phoenix jail on suspicion of manslaughter, aggravated assault, endangerment and causing serious injury or death by a moving violation.

A charging document initially released by Goodyear police said Quintana-Lujan told officers the day of the crash that he was driving in the left of two northbound lanes of the bridge when his steering locked and he drifted into the vacant right lane, then into the adjacent bike lane where he heard “a sound similar to metal.”

But a preliminary NTSB report said two investigators separately checked his truck and found no issues.

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A later NTSB report said Quintana-Lujan smoked marijuana the night before the Feb. 25 crash into the group of Phoenix area cyclists.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said Quintana-Lujan had a small amount of THC — the principal psychoactive constituent of cannibas —in his system, but noted that Arizona law doesn’t set a standard for proving impairment by THC only.

County prosecutors declined to pursue felony charges, saying there wasn’t enough evidence.

The case was sent back to the Goodyear Prosecutor’s Office where 11 misdemeanor charges were filed against Quintana-Lujan. He is facing a jail sentence if convicted.

Goodyear Municipal Court officials said Quintana-Lujan has a pre-trial conference on Oct. 16

A call to Phoenix attorney David Cantor, whose law firm is representing Quintana-Lujan, was not immediately returned on Tuesday.