Arrest reported in ISU hit and run death
- Thread starter cyflier
- Start date
CyRide popped into my mind when I first heard about this, but after a few days when nothing came forward from them I figured they had already looked at any tape/interviewed potential drivers in the area around this time and ruled out the possibility. Maybe they did and were working with police rather quickly and this is coming out now. I don't know.
Either way, this guy is screwed. He knew he hit something, or at least thought he did. He wouldn't go out at the next stop to inspect the bus otherwise. I can understand taking a day for the trauma/shock to set in and fully accept that it was he who hit and killed her, but it's his fault for not coming forward at all and he's going to pay for that. Too bad for him since it was most likely an accident that at worst he would get a ticket for and probably lose his job. Now it's all of that plus a felony charge and jail time.
Who knows what he thought he had hit, but he knew he hit something. What will be damning for him is that on his second time through the route, he passed the police at which point you would think he would of put 2 and 2 together. Regardless of all that, there is zero chance he didnt know what he had done by noon that day.
Also, the felony is coming from leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Even if he came forward that day, he still would of been charged with that. His not coming forward is not resulting in stricter charges, it could however lead to a stricter sentencing/less room for plea deals.
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One possible scenario is that Cy Ride and the police did look at the video the first day, but were focused on looking for other vehicles, witnesses, etc. They may have not even had the audio on. The Cy Ride supervisor rewatched the video with the audio on a few weeks later and realized what he heard was the impact.
She was alive for an hour after she was found. He left her to die in the street. Maybe if he acted like a normal human she would still be alive.
He gets no sympathy from me.
I look forward to him getting some good jail time. I can't believe he thought he was going to get away from this.
I'm not sure about that. Maybe it's different in a vehicular manslaughter situation. But when I was involved in an accident a couple years ago, I didn't even realize I'd been involved until the police called a couple weeks later. It was a deal where I was changing the radio station, looked up and saw I was about to rear-end someone. I slammed the breaks and was so focused on what was going on in front of me that I didn't notice I was hit from behind. The only damage I sustained was a scuff on the back bumper, so it's not like it should have been obvious by looking at the car. Technically, I left the scene of an accident, but I wasn't charged at all.
Gigantic apples to small oranges. No one died in your accident, so you didn't leave the scene of an accident resulting in a death.
The police would have been at the scene for awhile. He would have driven past them 3 times an hour.
“The difficult thing is that it’s not the video portion that tells us, it’s the audio,” he said. “It’s not readily apparent. We really analyzed that and it was definitely apparent that he had struck [Jacobs].”
Oof...
Oof...
I'm not trying to make excuses here, but those buses have the internal lights on at all times. No night vision, heavy rain, dark morning. It's far more likely that bus driver didn't see the girl than the girl didn't see the bus. Those lights inside the bus are a huge safety problem.
Edit: I hadn't heard of some updated reports. The following post was written prior to seeing the interview with police.
Spot on. I'm trying not to jump to conclusions on this. Raining, still dark out, big rig vs person.
I worked on a farm. Driven big equipment. I took out the corner of a fence line with a grain wagon and didn't feel a thing.
I hope the guy didn't know he hit the girl. If he did and drove off, then convict him. It'll be interesting to see the evidence and how this one plays out.
Either way, closure is always a good thing for the victim's family.
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And sounds like he spoke with some friends as he was processing...they also should have encouraged him to talk with the police (or contacted police if he didn't)....this is a big deal, not a "i found a $20 bill and am not sure if I should turn it in" type of dilemma
I'm sure defense attorney's are licking their chops. He may be guilty, but some easy things to defend - how do you arrest someone for hearing something hit a bus but not see it? What if he walked out of the bus because he heard a loud sound, but had no idea what it was? Could he have mistaken it for something other than a human?
Really excited to see this trial go down.
Really excited to see this trial go down.
When I read the audio tidbit, I was thinking more along the lines of he said something that made it obvious he knew. Maybe, maybe not.
That's why the text messages are so important. He incriminated himself with them.
No way this goes to trial, there will be a plea deal. You imagine this kid in prison.
- Mar 27, 2006
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Not sure I agree with this sentiment, but overall, I think you could be correct. The defense will likely argue ignorance. It's one thing to show that he was aware that he hit something. It's another to prove that he knew he hit a human. It will depend on what exactly is on the video, and what he did after it happened. If, as others have said, he drove by the scene of the incident several times, and saw cops there, you'd think you'd put two and two together and maybe come forward. But, if that didn't happen, then he might not have known. The fact that it was in the news doesn't necessarily mean he was aware of it, either. Paying attention to local news is not something all 23 year olds are known for. The video is going to be crucial to getting a conviction.
Im convinced he will plea down and this wont even go to trial. Both sides would be playing roulette with a jury in this case.
They did. He had his bus switched out the day of the accident specifically so they could review the tape. Why it took cy Ride so long is odd but police requested it the day of the accident.
