Friends remember Tucson animal care center volunteer killed in crash

At 73 years old, David Meyer was more active than many people half his age.

A lifelong skydiver, Meyer rode his bicycle to the Pima Animal Care Center three days a week — regardless of the weather — to walk dogs, always volunteering to take on the most-spirited or behaviorally challenged ones.

Shortly after 7 a.m. Jan. 21, Meyer was riding to PACC when he was struck by a vehicle. The driver fled but returned a short time later.

Meyer was taken to the hospital with a fractured vertebrae, two collapsed lungs and a serious head injury. He succumbed to his injuries and died Feb. 17.

The driver, Ramon Caro, had a “strong odor of intoxicants emanating from him,” watery red eyes and shards of glass from the car’s broken windshield on his clothing when Pima County sheriff’s deputies encountered him at the scene. His blood-alcohol content was 0.216, about three times the legal limit, and a mouthwash bottle containing alcohol was found in his car, according to sheriff’s reports.

Caro, 63, was indicted in Pima County Superior Court on Jan. 30 on felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault causing serious injury, as well as charges of DUI and extreme DUI, court documents show.

On Thursday, Caro was indicted on a separate charge of felony manslaughter.

While the upgraded charge has brought some relief, friends say the loss of Meyer is immeasurable.

“I think Dave’s quiet influence came from being a genuinely big-hearted person who was not quick to judge,” said friend and fellow PACC volunteer Sandra Holland. “If the guy who hit him did community service for the rest of his life, he would still have a hard time filling the space left by Dave.”

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Holland met Meyer years ago when he was working as an employee at the Marana Skydiving Center.

“He literally taught me to pack my parachute,” she said. “At the dropzone he was an unassuming guy, but always willing to help and give advice when asked, with a thirst for learning and a smile for everyone.”

Meyer was a Navy veteran and ham radio operator and began volunteering at PACC about five years ago.

Three days a week, rain or shine, he used to take the bus with his bike and ride the rest of the way to PACC, before moving closer to the shelter on North Silverbell Road, said volunteer Christy Holliger, who said Meyer was one of the first people she met when she started as a volunteer.

”He was quiet, patient and watchful from a distance, never criticizing me for my inexperience and mistakes, but letting me figure it out and gently stepping in to offer help and advice only when he could see I was really about to take a dive,” she wrote in a tribute to Meyer on Facebook.

Holliger described him as “the kindest man you have ever met in your life.”

Meyer could always be relied on to show up for his dog-walking shifts at PACC and although he was quiet, he was very friendly, Holland said.

“The gap that has been left will be hard to make up — not just in terms of man hours, but in terms of caring,” she said.

“He made a difference, to pets and people because he was always willing to take the time.”