Teens to face charges in crash

Two teen Sahuarita drivers have been charged with misdemeanor criminal offenses for the January crash that killed Sahuarita High School student Daniel Figueroa, 16, a member of the school’s basketball team.

After a lengthy investigation, police could not determine who was at fault and recommended the charges that were filed against both drivers, Sahuarita Police Officer Sam Almodova said.

That course of action will allow the Sahuarita Municipal Court to decide who is responsible, he said.

The drivers, Dustin James Bean, of Sahuarita, who just turned 18, and a 17-year old Sahuarita male, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, each could face up to a month’s jail time, a year’s probation and fines of $500 plus fees, Town Prosecutor Chris Wencker said.

Both drivers were charged with causing death by a moving violation, a Class III misdemeanor, and failure to stop at a red light, a civil traffic offense.

In other civil offenses, Bean was cited for speeding, and the juvenile driver was cited for failure to yield when making a left turn at an intersection.

Bean was driving a Ford F-250 pickup truck westbound on Duval Mine Road around 11:10 p.m. on Jan. 18 and a Mitsubishi Eclipse was making a left-hand turn from eastbound Duval Mine Road to the Interstate 19 northbound on-ramp when the two vehicles collided, officials said.

Figueroa was a front-seat passenger in the Eclipse.

Other occupants were treated at Tucson hospitals, including a female passenger in the front seat of the truck who was not wearing a seat belt and who was airlifted to University Medical Center. It was not known if other occupants were wearing seat belts, officials said.

Both drivers originally were charged in March, but the prosecutor’s office first filed the causing death by a moving violation charge as a civil violation, under an old state law, but Tuesday, the charge was to be refiled as a misdemeanor, Wencker said.

Police have determined pretty well what happened, but not who was at fault, officials said.

A police investigation estimated that the truck was traveling 53 mph and the car 21 mph, based in part on skid marks, Wencker said.

“There wasn’t anything to show anybody being reckless or that anybody was drinking or impaired in any way, just poor driving, basically,” Wencker said.

The issue of who was responsible hinged basically on whether the traffic lights were red, green or yellow when the vehicles went through the intersection, and neither physical evidence nor eyewitnesses could determine that, Almodova said.

“It’s just a tragedy. All these kids were just driving around and got into a terrible accident. The physical evidence showed enough to charge one defendant with speeding, but the eyewitnesses were split” over which vehicle faced a red light, Wencker said.

“There was an independent witness who said the truck ran a red light. Another independent witness said he was in a vehicle behind the Eclipse when the arrow turned green and he said the truck ran through intersection,” Wencker said.

“One passenger of the truck said he (the truck) had a green light and the driver of the truck said he had a green light,” the prosecutor said.

The driver of the Mitsubishi was dazed at the scene and later was unable to tell police whether the arrow was green or red.

If the case goes to trial and either defendant is convicted, he could face up to one month in jail and one year on probation with a fine of $500 plus court fees and a possible surcharge on the charge of causing death by a moving violation. The civil offenses could cost $250 each in fines plus court costs.

The prosecutor said that if civil lawsuits are filed in the matter, there is a possibility the criminal and traffic charges could be settled out of court under a misdemeanor compromise, an arrangement that would require agreement by all parties.

That approach typically is used for property damage cases, such as fender benders and vandalism, and it allows the victim to obtain restitution from the defendant, but there is nothing in the law that would prevent its use in a case involving death, Wencker said.

In this case, for example, the insurance companies for the drivers might decide it would be more prudent to settle out of court rather than risk a court verdict that could include a much larger judgment against them.

Wencker said the collision is “a good example of why you need to wear your seat belt.”

Meanwhile, in other Sahuarita police news, authorities still are seeking the public’s help in finding a man who impersonated a Sahuarita Police officer last week.

The man, described as a stocky Hispanic male in his late 40s or early 50s, used a red flashing light in his white pickup truck to stop a woman in a car near Pima Mine Road and Rancho Sahuarita Boulevard, then brandished a handgun, Almodova said.

The woman drove off unhurt when she saw the gun and called police.

Subsequent news coverage has helped generate tips that police have pursued, though none has led to an arrest, Almodova said.

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738