from Police Report
Man Dies In Vehicle Collision
At about 6:42 pm Spokane Police responded to an injury hit and run collision at the intersection of Sprague and Division. Upon arrival Police contacted witnesses who stated that a silver truck was northbound on Division and turned westbound on Sprague. The bicyclist was southbound in the west crosswalk of Division when he was struck by the pickup. The truck then fled the scene, but was followed by one of the witnesses until he returned to the scene.
The victim was treated at the scene by Spokane Fire Department personnel, and transported to the hospital with life threatening injuries. The name of the victim is being withheld until notification of next of kin. The victim died as a result of his injuries. The driver of the the truck Scott C Reckord DOB 12-29-60 was interviewed and it was determined that Reckord had the odor of alcohol on his breath. Reckord was given field sobriety test which he failed. Reckord was arrested for VEHICULAR HOMICIDE and FELONY HIT AND RUN.
Reckord's vehicle was towed from the scene as evidence. Traffic collision investigators responded to the scene. The investigation is ongoing.
Reckord was booked for the above listed charges. The charge of vehicular homicide was used because it was determined that Reckord was intoxicated at the time of the collision.
25 comments:
Life without parole, hopefully.
Definitely not a big fan of that particular intersection from a cycling perspective. Obviously, the driver was completely at fault and to blame here, but I wonder if the cyclist would have been trying to go south against the flow of traffic on Division if we had a decent means to get across the railroad from the U-District that didn't involve navigating at least one of two major multilane oneway arterials (Division & Browne).
The Spokesman Review comments are chilling. One man wished it was John Snyder or Richard Rush who got hit. Sigh.
Bryan, I saw that comment too. If you really want to feel like you've swum in a cesspool, it's hard to beat the drunken, angry, homicidal rants one often finds following news stories, either at the paper's website or any of the TV news' websites.
They walk among us. Even worse, they drive, text and talk among us.
Time to fix that intersection!
My thoughts go out to the family and friends of the man was killed.
I go across that intersection on my bike all the time when I head downtown from the hill(on sprague, west, across division) and I don't like it at all. I make sure I am tall and visible and keep an eye out all around me. Some intersections like that I am super vigilant.
I did notice that a "Scott C. Reckord" had two criminal traffic cases in 1994 and 1996.
7971295 Reckord, Scott C 10-17-94 Defendant Closed No Docket Info
CB0015343 Reckord, Scott C 11-18-96 Defendant Closed No Docket Info
I wonder if that is the same Scott Reckord, and if those "criminal traffic" cases were for drunk driving. If so, then this guy needs to go away for quite a while.
My sympathies and condolences, and I'm sure those of all the readers of this blog, go out to this poor bicyclist's family. What a sad, easily preventable death. Spokane, please, take action.
Sad news. The one-ways downtown are outmoded, dangerous traffic engineering, not just for bicycles.
Gotta wonder how anyone, bicyclist or not, could work up much personal dislike for Jon Snyder. Save some hate for bin Laden, rednecks.
Maybe Division and Sprague needs a ghost bike.
This is devastating news, ugh.
Nate, I think the ghost bike memorial is a nice thought.
I wonder if attending services will be an option, or if the accused will have a public hearing?
The presence of community cyclists would be a good way to support the victim (who, unlike the driver, was in compliance with WA State law, correct?).
~Sarah
The cyclist's name is David Squires according to the paper. There is an oncologist, Dr. David Squires, I think in Spokane.
According to the paper (grain of salt time) the bicyclist was riding in the crosswalk when he was hit by the drunk driver.
The closest I ever came to hitting a cyclist was making a left turn in a car in San Francisco. The cyclist was doing about 15-20 on the sidewalk and went into the crosswalk off the sidewalk.
Not good.
Motorists, myself included, are not looking for pedestrians moving that fast that far up a sidewalk. Luckily, I saw her right before I got to the crosswalk, and I wasn't going very fast.
Nate,
Thanks for your comments. I think the site most definitely needs a ghost bike. Speare and I were discussing that today. I went to Teen Challenge Thrift--which is usually dependable for a crap 10-speed, but no luck.
I have to concur will all the comments regarding the problems with this intersection. We are going to need many voices asking the city for change in this regard; complete streets, no new couplets, etc..
When you say a ghost bike, are you talking about just a bike to put up as a memorial? I would be willing to donate one for that.
Andrew
Seems like one of the easier and more obvious things to do is reduce the speed limit on arterials downtown from 30 to 25 and enforce it. No real city has a 30 mph speed limit on downtown surface streets - there is too much density and too many pedestrians and bikes. May not have helped in this collision, but there are many times it would help.
Given the cyclist was legally on the sidewalk / in the crosswalk, this is more of a pedestrian accident than a bike accident. What we should not assume is the that the person was riding quickly and therefore partially at fault. Riding at a fast walking pace in a crosswalk is just as legal as walking in that crosswalk.
By the way, my wife was the victim in the incident on Washington at Fifth last Wednesday. She has a broken neck and jaw, and teeth to replace, but will probably be fine long-term, unlike David.
She was riding down Washington below the speed limit in the middle of the right lane in daylight wearing a bright cherry red jacket, and an elderly driver who had stopped at the stop sign preceded immediately in front of my wife, who had no time to slow or swerve, and impacted the driver's door with her face.
Be careful out there.
Best wishes and hope for a full recovery to Libby.
Thoughts and prayers to friends and family of the deceased.
BE CAREFUL OUT THERE FELLOW CYCLISTS!!!
We need a pedestrian and bike plan that makes the city safe for riders from ages 8 - 88!
Try as we do, there's nothing any bike or comprehensive plan can do when someone is driving drunk.
Jon found a ghost bike.
Pat and Glen have some spray paint.
We have a lock and we're looking for a cable/chain.
We'll put it out there in the next couple days.
I have a fairly secure cable (for a cable) I am happy to donate. I can drop it off this evening around eight or so. Just let me know. schrauf at yahoo dot com.
Thanks Chad. I just found an old cable in a pile of crud in my garage. We're set.
Thank you guys for the ghost bike. I had a similar thought when I paid my respects at the scene on Tuesday, just couldn't find a bike for it.
The victim's obituary is out. Husband, father of 6, grandfather of 7. An avid cyclist, according to an interview with his niece. Totally senseless and very sad.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/spokesman/obituary.aspx?n=david-squires&pid=140281452
SQUIRES, David Lynn Sr. (Age 56) Beloved Husband, Son, Brother, Father, Grandfather and Friend David Lynn Squires Sr. passed away March 1st 2010, in Spokane, Washington. Dave was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on April 5th, 1953, to Carol and Don Squires. Dave lived in Spokane for most of his life. He graduated from North Central High School in 1971. Dave gained the nickname "The Sheik" as an electrician in the Spokane area. Dave loved fishing, reading, cooking, and camping, but most of all he loved being with his family and friends. He lived an honest and simple life, with an open and generous heart. He had a great sense of humor, a rare ability to capture your imagination with his story telling, and abeautiful singing voice. Dave was preceded in death by his father, Don. He is survived by his wife Christy of 19 years, his mother, Carol, siblings Greg, Tammy White, Lynelle (Dan) Wolf, Don (Starlee), Roxanne (Bruce) Eicher, children David Jr. (Cindy), Matt (Kim), Kyle, Jason, Jaymie, andAlicia, grandchildren Sutton, Caden, Paige, Hope, Marty, Ashton, and Shayden David, and many, many nieces and nephews. Visitation will be Thursday and Friday 10-5PM at Heritage and Funeral Service 10:00AMSaturday March 6, 2010 at Heritage Chapel. www.heritagefunerals.com
Pat,
Thanks for posting the obituary. It's nice to see a comment section filled with sane posts about this. Just put the Ghost Bike up an hour ago. Thanks to everyone who donated paint, chain, or a lock. If you've seen pictures of the bike he was riding it's hard to imagine he was going through that intersection very fast.
I'm a cyclecommuter from Spokane and I have three questions about this story:
1. What make/model of bike was involved in this crash?
2. Was the cyclist using lights at the time of the crash?
3. Was the cyclist wearing a helmet at the time of the crash?
-K.Jarvis
Another Cyclist Killed? wow vehicular Manslaughter is no joke...Very serious matter
http://mcanetworkacademy.com/rangel86/vehicular-manslaughter-and-or-negligent-homicide-mca-to-the-rescue/
Post a Comment