A man was apprehended in connection with an accident in a Phoenix suburb that killed two bicyclists and injured 11 others, according to police.
Goodyear police said that Pedro Quintana-Lujan, 26, was detained on suspicion of two counts of manslaughter, three counts of aggravated assault, 18 counts of endangerment, and two counts of inflicting substantial harm or death. He was eventually released without charges, pending the outcome of the investigation.
A pickup truck towing a trailer collided with a large group of Arizona bikers on a busy highway near the Cotton Lane Bridge at 8 a.m. on February 25. The bridge is about 19 miles west of Phoenix.
The driver, Quintana-Lujan, remained at the scene of the collision and cooperated with authorities in their investigation, according to a police spokesman, Lisa Berry.
The first casualty, according to Berry, was a female bicyclist who died at the site, while the second victim died in a hospital.
According to court documents, Quintana-Lujan informed police that his “steering locked and the truck started drifting.” He admitted to smoking marijuana 11 hours prior to the crash. There were no charges filed.
In 2020, there were 932 cyclists killed in motor vehicle collisions in the United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.