January 12, 2012

SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "DA’s office joins fatal accident investigation"

"The Pitkin County District Attorney’s Office will review the investigation by the Colorado State Patrol into the mysterious death of a Basalt woman who was struck and killed by a bus near Buttermilk on Jan. 1.

Authorities are still unsure how, or why, Joanie Marie Kocab, 29, returned to the upper valley in the early morning of New Year’s Day after she disembarked a bus in Basalt after 12:45 a.m. Authorities have ruled out that she took public transportation.

Kocab, who moved to the valley from Kansas less than three weeks before the accident, was struck from behind by a Roaring Fork Transportation Authority bus around 2:25 a.m. Authorities have said she was walking in the middle of the eastbound bus lane just downvalley from the intersection of Highway 82 and Owl Creek Road.

Arnold Mordkin, chief deputy district attorney for the 9th Judicial District, said he requested a copy of the state patrol’s accident investigation, which has not yet been completed.

“This was a very serious happenstance and I want to see the report,” he said. “It’s important.”

The driver, who the state patrol did not ticket for the accident, remains on administrative leave, which is standard practice, said RFTA CEO Dan Blankenship. The Aspen Daily News is not identifying the driver because she has not been ticketed or charged with a crime...."
(Chad Abraham)
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1 comment:

mack said...

Wondering what's going on with Mordkin on this. Not doubting it was an accident by the driver but there's no denying how many times RFTA's come close before this one and it's always excuse after excuse.

Is there a charge for negligence? To be fighting over millions for wi-fi and high tech pay machines and beefed up bus stops with CNG fuels instead of basic safety 101 is the problem.