Two drivers involved in deadly collisions involving multiple vehicles, including one that killed a teacher, will not face felony charges because of their medical conditions, an official said Wednesday.
And family members of at least one of the victims want to do something about changing state law dealing with driving with medical conditions.
Daniel R. Lowe, 39, was killed Nov. 20 as he pulled his truck out of a shopping center on the East Side and a woman in a sport utility vehicle slammed into him before crashing into a print shop.
The female driver, 53, had gone into a seizure at the time of the wreck, said Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a Tucson police spokesman.
Lowe's family plans to work with an Arizona lawmaker to enact stricter regulations regarding drivers with medical conditions, said his mother, Penny Lowe.
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"He had a very kind heart and he loved his family," Penny Lowe said of her son.
In the November crash and in another that occurred in February, the County Attorney's Office couldn't show the drivers' actions were reckless enough to warrant felony charges, said Deputy County Attorney Bruce Chalk.
"One of the basic premises of criminal activity is that it's a voluntary act," Chalk said. "And in the particular instances we're talking about, the medical conditions rendered the act involuntary."
In the February collision, which occurred on East Speedway near North Swan Road, a speeding truck careened out of control and went airborne, smashing into as many as 10 vehicles and killing teacher Margaret Maxwell, 62, of the 9800 block of East Irvington Road.
A 13-year-old boy was seriously injured, Pacheco said.
The 22-year-old male driver of the truck had a diabetic episode, Pacheco said.
Maxwell, a fifth-grade teacher at Keeling Elementary School, 2837 N. Los Altos Ave., died after the truck slammed into the car she was in, police said.
The crash occurred on East Speedway about 7:45 a.m. Feb. 7 when the speeding truck plowed through a row of vehicles stopped at the westbound red light at North Swan Road.
A witness to the wreck said it appeared the truck was hurtling down Speedway at speeds greater than 100 mph, according to a police report. The driver of the truck told investigators he "probably blacked out" during the collisions, the reports say.
In that wreck, police are awaiting the county attorney's letter of declination, which is the official notice that felony charges won't be sought, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, another police spokesman. If that happens, investigators will turn the case over to the city prosecutor, who will decide whether to seek less serious charges.
In the Nov. 20 wreck that killed Lowe, a woman was driving a sport utility vehicle east on Broadway when she slammed into two vehicles and into the front of the Gaslight Print Shop, 7004 E. Broadway, according to police.
Robinson said the speed of the woman's vehicle reached 88 mph.
One of the cars she hit was a 1994 Toyota truck driven by Lowe, who later died from injuries he suffered in the wreck, police said.
Before striking the truck, the woman driving the SUV had slammed into a vehicle stopped at a red light, forcing it into another vehicle, according to Star archives.
Lowe was pulling out of the shopping center while he was delivering a pizza, which was one of his many duties as an employee of Grandma Tony's Pizza, 7010 E. Broadway, his mother said.
That case has already been turned over to the city prosecutor, Robinson said.
Police refused to release the name of either driver because they haven't been charged.
The Arizona Motor Vehicle Division relies on drivers to report their illnesses, which is a requirement listed on a driver's license application, said spokeswoman Cydney DeModica. But there are times when people have an episode that impairs their driving for the first time when they're behind the wheel, DeModica said.
For that reason, emergency medical personnel, physicians, police and concerned citizens can also report conditions of others that might affect driving, DeModica said.
"First of all, we need to be aware that the condition exists" before any regulation or decision to remove a person's license can take place, she said.
