May 23, 3:20 p.m. update:
Friday's court hearing for Pedro Quintana Lujan has been vacated after the judge granted the defense’s motion and will take the case to a jury trial. A trial date has not been set.
This decision came down less than 24 hours after the original Friday hearing. Victims believe the judge would’ve given his decision on whether Quintana Lujan was guilty or not.
“I know a lot of us were looking forward to finally being behind us in the next couple of weeks and now it’s going to drag out,” said Clay Wells, a victim in the crash.
Wells said he previously wanted to the case to go to trial, however, with such a last-minute decision, he and other victims were expecting closure sooner than later. It’s unclear how long the case will take now.
“It’s going to be hard for some of the victims and their families because if we go to a jury trial, the images that are quite graphic… that are going to be plastered up in the big screens in the courtroom. It’s continuing, from the victim’s standpoint, we’re back at picking at the scab and the wound is not going to heal yet,” he said.
ABC15 reached out to Quintana Lujan’s attorneys for comment but did not hear back in time for the report.
May 23, 8:30 a.m. update:
Friday's court hearing for Pedro Quintana Lujan has been vacated after the judge granted the defense’s motion and will take the case to a jury trial. The trial date has not been set.
ORIGINAL:
The pickup truck driver accused of hitting a large group of bicyclists in Goodyear in 2023 will be in court Friday and could find out his fate.
Pedro Quintana Lujan faces 12 misdemeanor counts of an accident that caused serious physical injury or death. These were filed in March of 2024, months after the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office declined to pursue felony charges for lack of evidence.
The crash involved the West Valley Cycling group during one of their weekly Saturday morning rides in late February 2023.
The two people who died that day were 61-year-old Karen Malisa of Goodyear and 65-year-old David Kero.
According to police documents, investigators determined the truck entered the dedicated bike lane and hit the concrete barrier before striking several bicyclists.
“Bikes on scene were broken into pieces and clothing was littered throughout the scene,” police documents say. Clothing was also stuck to the truck’s undercarriage.
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More than a year after that crash, ABC15 obtained video of the driver on that day, moments after the collision.
“Babe, I’m scared, babe. I hit a lot of people, babe,” driver Pedro Quintana-Lujan said in the 25-second video, showing himself. For several seconds in the video, he turns the camera around to show the scene on the bridge where you can see multiple people and bicycles lying on the roadway. “Babe, I killed somebody, babe.”
In the rest of the video, the camera faces Quintana-Lujan as he’s heard crying.
In the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, records show he called two people right after the crash. The report says he called his father on his cell phone and then his wife over Snapchat. The records show 911 was not one of his first calls if it was at all; it did not detail that. The NTSB report said there were four 911 audio records obtained from Goodyear Police, which three of them were victims and one was a bystander.
Victims tell ABC15 they believe the judge will determine Quintana-Lujan's guilt Friday, but if found guilty, it is believed he will be sentenced at a later date.
