Bruce Allen: Pedestrian Struck, Killed in his Downtown Domain

[XLFD]

Sad news from Manistee, an elderly pedestrian has died from injuries suffered when he was in a downtown crosswalk and reportedly ran into by a car driven by a local student on his way to school last Thursday.  The man involved, Bruce Allen, served as a member of the Manistee Downtown Development Authority who lived in the downtown and met his doom in the center of downtown Manistee, as related in the local paper:

Manistee resident dies after pedestrian-car crash

MANISTEE — A Manistee resident who had been in critical condition after a pedestrian-vehicle crash in the city of Manistee last week has died from his injuries, police say.  In a Tuesday news release, Manistee Police Department Chief Josh Glass said the investigation into the circumstances of the crash is still ongoing. 

Bruce Allen [pictured above], 66, died from his injuries on Nov. 1, the news release states. Glass confirmed that Allen was a resident member of the Manistee Downtown Development Authority.  

The city police department and Manistee Fire Department were dispatched at about 7:48 a.m. on Oct. 30 to the intersection of River and Maple streets for a car crash involving a pedestrian.

“The initial on scene investigation indicated a 17-year-old male driver was turning south onto Maple Street from River Street when he struck a 66-year-old pedestrian crossing in the cross walk,” reads the initial news release posted on the city’s Facebook page.

Fire department personnel immediately provided medical treatment to the pedestrian, who was later transported to Munson Healthcare Manistee Hospital.

The news release notes that the department “would like to extend our deepest and most sincere condolences to the Allen family during this difficult time.”

Carmen Kott, Manistee Area Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, said in an emailed statement, "We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Bruce Allen."

"He was a dedicated member of the DDA board and a valued member of our community. Our thoughts are with the Allen family, friends and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time," Kott said. 

Once the investigation is complete, the police department will be submitting a copy to the Manistee County Prosecutor's Office for review.

ANALYSIS:  River Street is a one way street, so we can determine that the young driver was headed west and turned south (red line in the picture above) into the path of Mr. Allen (orange line), who likely was also headed west, otherwise he might have seen the careless path of the young man who was destined to hit him.  The sun coming up and blinding someone had no part in this incident; mostly clear skies and no precipitation showed the weather had no part in this.

Regardless, dawn on October 30th in Manistee happened at 7:50 AM, after this incident happened, so was lack of visibility due to darkness a factor?  Unlikely; this is the center of downtown at a signaled intersection and one paying attention to driving should have been able to determine whether the very-clearly-marked crosswalk they were turning into was occupied or not with the lighting available there.  If for some reason it wasn't, however, it would be a good predicate for the surviving DDA members to improve the lighting downtown.

What likely happened here, but was left out by the Manistee police chief?  The 17 year old driver hit Mr. Allen just before 7:48, just seven minutes before Manistee High School started class.  Deducing he was turning up Maple in order to get to 12th Street, turn and travel a couple more blocks to the school, get out of his car and get to class on time, it's clear he was strapped for time and likely in a hurry. 

Perhaps, he couldn't afford the time to wait for another cycle and hit the stoplight while it was amber and came to a point of no return before he noticed someone in the crosswalk.  Or maybe he was otherwise distracted and inexperienced with the duties he had as a driver, and didn't know what was going on until his forward progress was impeded and he heard a loud bump at the front of his car.

Regardless, this appears to be a clear violation of the pedestrians right to cross the street at a crosswalk, and would be a moving violation causing death which is a misdemeanor and should have likely been sent to the prosecutor's office as such before the chief issued his update.  The driver would be considered a minor and would likely get token punishment from the county's juvenile system. 

This negligent driving episode needs to be punished to some degree, lest it become even more well known that careless driving that critically injures or kills vulnerable users of the road will never come with a consequence.  The current orthodoxy is not working to prevent incidents like this from happening.