Someone trying to stay alive walking across 4th Street near Solar NW (think Sadie’s Restaurant) was killed last night. Below is the KOAT story on the incident (the only media coverage I could find online) in italics, followed by my version based on the former and my background into quite a few crash and supplemental investigatory reports on such incidents.

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A pedestrian is dead after being hit by a vehicle in northwest Albuquerque.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —

The crash happened Friday night near the intersection of 4th Street NW and Solar Road NW. Investigators also say it was raining heavily.

According to APD, a 2022 Ford pickup truck was traveling southbound on 4th Street when another car in front swerved to the right. Soon after, the driver saw a pedestrian in the middle of the road, not using the crosswalk. The car then struck the pedestrian.

Officers say witnesses saw the pedestrian walking east on 4th Street, and when hit, landed 30 feet away from the point of impact.

The person was transported to UNMH with serious injuries and later died.

The department will continue to investigate. At this time, officials say neither alcohol nor speed played a role.

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Person Killed Trying to Cross 4th St. in North Valley

A person trying to make their way walking across 4th Street near Solar NW in heavy rain was struck and killed by a driver traveling southbound. According to APD, the driver of a 2022 Ford pickup truck moving at undertermined speed spotted another driver in front of them, also traveling in a heavy rain storm at undertermined speed, swerving to the right. The driver of the pickup truck then saw the person in the middle of 4th Street and was going too fast to stop in time to avoid slamming into the victim. The driver’s speed was such that the victim was throw 30 feet away from the point of impact.

The victim was transportated to UNMH with serious injuried and later died. The department will continue to investigate, but this acknowledged lack of investigation didn’t stop an APD spokesperson from declaring with zero foundation that “neither alcohol nor speed played a role,” a particularly unsupported assertion given the distance the victim was thrown and that zero driver speed information will be known until a search warrant grants access to on-board data available on all 2022 Ford pickup trucks.

The APD spokeperson also failed to mention that there is no chance in Hell such a search warrant will be sought, as the victim was attempting a mid-block crossing, thus it’s always the victim’s fault.