In October 2010, an 18-year-old Peoria high school student was walking home from his job when a car jumped a curb near 83rd Avenue and Thunderbird, hitting and killing him. The driver of the car, then 23-year-old Laura Flanders, sped away after fatally running over the teenager, but police were able to track her down shortly after the accident.
When questioned by police, Flanders admitted that she had driven despite the fact that she was on “prescription medication that came with instructions not to drive." She went on to tell officers that she was so “dazed," she thought she had hit a pole or a bush and that she had drank nail polish earlier that evening by mistake.
As part of her plea deal, Flanders was sentenced to six years in prison and three years of probation for leaving the scene of an accident and negligent homicide.
In Arizona, negligent homicide is defined in A.R.S. 13-1102:
A person commits negligent homicide if, with criminal negligence, they cause the death of another person including an unborn child. However, a person may not be prosecuted under this statute if any of the following applies:
- The person was the unborn child’s mother.
- The person was performing an abortion for which the consent of the pregnant woman, or person authorized by law to act on the pregnant woman’s behalf, has been obtained or for which the consent was implied or authorized by law.
- The person was performing medical treatment on the pregnant woman or the pregnant woman’s unborn child.
It should be noted that while the above situations may protect a person from criminal prosecution in the context, it may not fully protect them from a wrongful death lawsuit.
Negligent homicide is generally charged as a class 4 felony in Arizona.
Cases involving negligent homicide often include a defendant who made a very poor decision which consequently ended the life of an innocent bystander, leaving the defendant with great remorse for the rest of their life.
