A 34-year-old woman was killed Wednesday when a tractor-trailer made a wide right turn at the intersection of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard and Scottsdale Road and struck her in the crosswalk.
The victim, whose name was withheld, was pronounced dead about 10:30 a.m. at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn hospital.
“I just saw what looked like coffee being thrown up in the air, and then the woman was rolling under the tires of the truck,” said Eliseo Mariscales, a 32-year-old restaurant worker who was driving a car two lanes left of the truck at the time.
Mariscales said the woman began walking east across Scottsdale Road when the light turned green and she was drinking from a beverage when the truck came from behind her and turned into her path.
“I don’t think she knew what hit her,” he said.
Mariscales said the 18-wheel Albertson’s delivery truck neither slowed nor accelerated as it made the turn, but that afterward its driver stopped immediately to render aid.
“The driver felt something, like he had gone over a curb, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was,” said Sgt. Mark Clark of the Scottsdale Police Department. “He looked in his rearview mirror and saw there was a pedestrian tangled up in his wheels.”
Clark said large vehicles like tractor-trailers tend to make right turns in widely arcing ways that pedestrians and motorists fail to recognize or anticipate.
He said officers are conducting an investigation to determine fault and the driver’s name will not be released unless charges are filed.
The woman’s name won’t be released until her family has been notified, police said.
The intersection remained closed for several hours after the accident.
