PHOENIX — The pickup truck driver who is accused of hitting a group of 20 cyclists, killing two of them in Goodyear in February of 2023 faced the victims in court for the first time since the crash.
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.
On February 25, 2023, police say Quintana-Lujan drove into a group of 20 cyclists on the Cotton Lane Bridge just south of MC 85 in Goodyear. A majority of the cyclists were injured; two people – Karen Malisa and David Kero – died after the crash. Quintana-Lujan told police his steering locked up, however, the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation showed two separate investigators found no issues with his truck.
“This case has been through a number of reviews, that our client didn't do anything intentionally or knowingly or recklessly, unfortunately, it's a civil traffic accident where a number of people, good people, were seriously injured or even killed,” said Joey Hamby, Quintana-Lujan’s attorney.
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The hearing scheduled on Thursday was to allow attorneys to submit more evidence for a judge to make a decision. However, Quintana-Lujan’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss 11 of the 12 counts an hour before the hearing took place.
“Mr. Quintana-Lujan has been charged with a single act. And we want to make sure that if he’s charged with a single act that he’s not punished 12 separate times for a single act,” Hamby said.
Since the misdemeanor charges were filed in 2024, the case has continued to be pushed back. Thursday’s hearing was the first time the victims saw Quintana-Lujan since the crash.
“It wasn’t easy. I got to be honest with that. One thing I have learned, I don’t harbor any hate. I don’t,” said Steve Malisa, Karen’s husband.
Clay Wells, another victim in the crash who was the last one out of the hospital, said he thought he’d be fine seeing him, but couldn’t make eye contact with Quintana-Lujan.
“I just want to see some remorse,” he said of Quintana-Lujan. “I would love to know what really happened, but I don’t think we’ll ever hear that. Just some remorse on his part. Simple fact that he didn’t dial 911 when he knew he had killed somebody.”
According to the investigation by the NTSB, Quintana-Lujan was not one of the four people who called police after the crash. ABC15 obtained several videos through public records requests in which Quintana-Lujan recorded a 25-second video of himself moments after the crash saying he had killed someone.
Following Thursday’s hearing, ABC15 asked Quintana-Lujan several times if he had anything to say to the victims or their families.
“I'm sorry. It wasn't on purpose,” he said.
Quintana-Lujan could face a max of up to six months in jail for each count, but that will be decided by the judge. There is a possibility of a jury trial, the judge explained in the court hearing.
“If we got that, would it be ideal? No. But it would be some justice, especially for Karen and Dave,” Wells said of the maximum amount Quintana-Lujan could get behind bars.
His next court date is scheduled for mid-April.
