Driver Arraigned in Hit-And-Run Killing of Cyclist

11.24.2015

http://goo.gl/asAuPK



ALIQUIPPA -- A Brighton Township man accused of causing a 2014 crash that killed a bicyclist in Aliquippa told police he drank three shots of tequila and seven or eight beers at a bar before driving home.

William D. Edenfield, 60, was arraigned Tuesday morning before Magisterial District Judge James DiBenedetto. He is accused of striking and killing bicyclist Taylor Lee Banks, 23, of Braddock around 6:45 p.m. Oct. 31, 2014 in the northbound lane of Route 51 between Baker Street and the West Aliquippa Bridge. Banks was riding to his mother's house in Rochester at the time.

According to police, just prior to the location of the crash is a posted sign warning drivers of bicyclists.

The following was released in a police report:

Officers and medics were called to the scene of the crash, where Banks was immediately pronounced dead. Police collected several pieces of broken vehicle components, including a emblem from a Dodge truck.

Through early investigation, police learned the license plate number for truck that fled from the crash. Shortly after, the truck -- which had heavy front-end damage -- was seen parked in Monaca. Police approached the vehicle and met with Edenfield, the driver and only occupant. Edenfield said he was headed home from South Heights.

Officers noticed that Edenfield appeared to be intoxicated and took him to Heritage Valley Beaver hospital for a blood test. According to the police report, his blood alcohol level was 0.24 percent.

Edenfield agreed to speak with police after submitting to the test. He told officers he "did not mean to hurt anyone."

Edenfield said he got to D'Amico's Tavern at 115 Jordan Street between 3 and 4 p.m. drank three shots of tequila and seven or eight beers and left about 7 p.m. He took Route 51 toward Monaca on his way home.

While driving through Aliquippa, he said, he noticed a "twinkle" of something ahead but didn't know what it was. Edenfield said he occasionally glanced over his left shoulder at the old mill site where he used to work. At one point he noticed he hit something but couldn't tell what, according to police. Edenfield said he looked in his rear-view mirror and saw something on the side of the road. He pulled over when he got into Monaca, police said.

According to a reconstruction investigation into the crash, when Edenfield hit the bike, he trapped Banks between the guardrail and his truck. This caused Banks to hit several other objects, including wooden and metal guardrail supports while he was dragged by Edenfield's truck.

Banks' mother, Beth Ann, said Edenfield's arrest has given her family great relief. "My family has something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving," she said.

She expressed frustration over how long it took for charges to be filed in the case. "He's been out all this time, living his life day to day, and we can’t function," she said.

According to police, accident reconstruction can often take several months.

Beaver County District Attorney Anthony Berosh previously told The Times that accident reconstruction, unlike other investigations, requires a certified specialist to analyze information from the crash before the district attorney's office decides if -- and what -- charges should be filed.

Edenfield was charged by Aliquippa police with homicide by vehicle, causing an accident involving death, DUI, careless driving and failing to stop and give information. According to online court records, he posted a $25,000 bond and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Dec. 4.

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Also, WPXI video.

Two ways to Reduce Cyclist Deaths: Enforce Speed Limits or Send White Folks to Prison

Sat 11.22

On Halloween 2014, Taylor Lee Banks, 21, was killed bicycling from his job in Aliquippa's NewSheffield neighborhood to the apartment he shared with his mother in Rochester PA. It was a hit-and-run crash, and the driver left him to die in the street.

In Beaver County (and Western PA) there's one way you can kill somebody with impunity: use a car to kill them while they're riding a bicycle; be sober, and stop at the scene. You won't have any criminal problems.

A little over a year after the tragedy, a Beaver man has been charged with the crime. He is innocent until proven guilty, and there is no schadenfreude in his predicament; it won't bring Taylor back but it will serve some function in telling he community: there are repercussions for killing cyclists who are using the roads appropriately.

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Man charged in death of Aliquippa bicyclist
By Kirstin Kennedy kkennedy@timesonline.com

ALIQUIPPA -- A Beaver man has been charged for causing a 2014 accident that killed a bicyclist on Route 51 on Halloween night, according to online court records.

William D. Edenfield, 60, no listed address, was charged Friday by Aliquippa police with homicide by vehicle, causing an accident involving death, DUI, careless driving and failing to stop and give information.

According to police, Taylor Lee Banks, 23, of Braddock was riding his bike around 6:45 p.m. Oct. 31, 2014, in the northbound lane of Route 51 when he was struck by a car and killed. Police said he was headed to his mother's home in Rochester.

Police consulted with accident reconstruction specialists to determine how the accident occurred. The process of reconstruction often takes several months, officials said.

A suspect was initially taken into custody on the night of the accident, but was later released, police said. It is unclear if Edenfield was the initial suspect.

As of Friday night, Edenfield was not in police custody, according to online court records. No further information was available.

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Which brings me to something I said to a City Paper reporter last week: This won't change until we start putting white people in prison for killing cyclists. Because in America, if you want something illegal to stop, you've got to put white people into prison and then you'll get their attention.


Of course, there are intermediate levels that could be taken; outcomes less than prison, for events less than fatal. Generally we accept that the best course is the middle, between excess and deficiency.

An example of an intermediate engagement would be: enforcing speed limits. That would work, too, but our elected officials are unwilling to tell the police to enforce speed limits, so it seems like we can only focus on the egregious transactions and talk about prison for people who kill with cars.


This is, of course, the lesson of Heinrich's Triangle - that for every 1 fatality, there are 30 serious events (wrecks), and 300 warning-events (fender benders), and thousands of bad behaviors (speeding, distraction). We can choose to engage the bottom of the triangle (which involves a lot of work and conflict), or we can choose to criminalize the few acts at the top of the triangle (which reduces scope, expense, and effectiveness).

This is not bicycle-lobby agitprop; this is research by the WHO and AAA. Slowing down cars increases survival rates; the most expedient way to slow down cars in American cities is to enforce speed limits.

It comes down to budgets, and whether the deaths (and death reduction) are on the budget or externalities. Mayors have to have a budget to start/increase speed limit enforcement; when we bury dead people, the family and maybe the other driver pay for it. We're getting the government, leadership, and outcomes we're willing to pay for.

My good friend read this post and asked: what's with the   white people    aspect of my title? He was wondering if that was a superfluous Freudian addition, but it's not. It goes like this:

• Driving without regard to road users, and knowing there's no penalty if using your cellphone results in somebody else dying, is an example of: entitlement. I'm going to make a generalization here, and Kind Readers may disagree: most black drivers are more careful than most white drivers; they are motivated to bring their A-game and avoid police interactions.
  
• In my own experience, the drivers that hassle me are white people. I've had one black driver shout at me from his car; he shouted, "don't get killed doing that".
  
• America puts black people in jail left-and-right, for a broad variety of things - but not white folks. It has a bigger effect in the white community when a white person is put in jail for something they did with their car.
  
• Which leads me to: I wonder if drivers-killing-cyclists isn't largely an example of pernicious white-on-white violence?

One Year since Hit-and-Run Killing

Sat 10/31/2015 19m

The prompt for today's ride was marking the one-year anniversary of Taylor Lee Banks' being killed by a driver in a hit-and-run. No charges ever filed; no public statements.

This is the route of the ride:


This was the scene at the courthouse:



After the ride, Y said he had not ridden around Beaver County too much, so he joined K and I for a ride. We rode the little-known Beaver Falls Bike Trail, shown in this map on the right and also in the video below (at double-speed)




Then we continued north, up the Geneva hill (aka College Hill) to Beaver Falls Coffee & Tea. This is a very nice coffee shop!