PHOENIX — The man behind the self-driving Uber car that struck and killed a woman in Tempe five years ago has pleaded guilty to dangerous behavior.
Rafaela Vazquez was sentenced Friday to three years of supervised probation for being involved in the crash that killed 49-year-old Elaine Hertzberg in March 2018.
Herzberg was biking down Mill Street outside the pedestrian crossing when he was hit by a self-driving Uber car driven by Mr. Vazquez.
Dash video from inside the car shows Vazquez looking down and the car not stopping on its own.
“During this testing phase, the company relied on the defendant’s eyes and ears while the vehicle was in motion, and the defendant failed to do so,” prosecutor Tiffany Brady said in court on Friday. rice field.
Prosecutors accused the defendant of watching television while operating the car, but Vazquez’s attorneys argued that the defendant was monitoring the car’s systems.
Vazquez’s attorney, Al Morrison, said: “She did what was asked of her and monitored the systems in the car.”
Related: NTSB Recommends Licensing and Regulations in Uber Death Crash
A 2019 NTSB report found that Vazquez didn’t react for a second before the car hit Hartsburg. However, the report found that for five seconds, the car was trying to figure out who Hertzberg was, but did not identify Hertzberg as a human being.
“Everyone here is responsible,” Morrison said during a hearing on Friday. “Including state governments, including Uber, including my clients, including Mr. Hertzberg. I don’t think it’s up for debate here.”
Vasquez was initially charged with manslaughter before he received a plea bargain.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell released the following statement after Vazquez’s court hearing:
“The defendant in this case was responsible for driving a vehicle on a city street that resulted in the death of a woman. Yes, we believe the judge ordered the appropriate sentencing based on mitigating and exacerbating factors.”
Uber escaped criminal prosecution by the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office in 2019. Herzberg’s family reached a settlement with the ride-sharing company shortly after the fatal accident.
*Editor’s Note: The video above is from a previous broadcast. *
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What is Valley?:
Locals refer to metropolitan Phoenix as “The Valley.” It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest.
Besides Phoenix, the Valley is made up of various major cities, including:
- Mesa
- chandler
- Scottsdale
- Tempe
- glendale
- surprise
- Peoria
- Gilbert
- El Mirage
- Avondale
- Litchfield Park
- goodyear
- buckeye
Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or the “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.
According to the 2020 US Census, the total population of the cities of Valley is 4,845,832. This makes him the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country, behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.
How big is Maricopa County?:
According to the 2020 Census, Maricopa County is the fourth largest county in the United States with a population of 4,485,414.
The county contains approximately 63% of Arizona’s population and covers an area of 9,224 square miles. This makes the county larger than her seven US states (Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New Hampshire).
One of the largest park systems in the United States is also located in Maricopa County. The county has an estimated 120,000 acres of open space parks, including hundreds of miles of trails, nature centers and campgrounds.
The county seat is in Phoenix, the state capital, and the fifth most populous city in the United States according to the Census.
