Dozens of University of Arizona students and community members expressed their grief — and frustration with the city over pedestrian safety — at the Tucson City Council meeting Wednesday night because of the hit-and-run that killed three University of Arizona students.
Josiah Santos, 22, Sophia Troetel, 21, and Katya Castillo-Mendoza, 21, were walking in a marked but unlit crosswalk on North Euclid Avenue at East Second Street about 11 p.m. Oct. 30 when they were fatally struck by a 2019 Porsche Boxster driven, police said, by Louis John Artal, 19. Police said Artal, also a UA student, was impaired by alcohol and or/drugs and speeding, and he faces three second-degree murder charges and a charge of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.
Justine Wilken, a recent UA grad who said Santos was a good friend, told the City Council she could have spent her time “talking about how amazing” all three students were, but that wasn’t why she came to Wednesday night’s meeting.
“I am here to express my outrage at the city of Tucson and its Department of Transportation for the negligence that allowed this crosswalk to kill my friend with the help of an impaired driver. You can ask anyone on campus, and they will tell you that crosswalk is terrifying. As a pedestrian, you have zero faith that you’re not going to be mowed down the second you step off the curb,” Wilken said.
In the wake of the crash an online petition was started, asking the city to install HAWK (high-intensity activated crosswalk) beacons at the intersection, which has more than 10,500 signatures.
But the city’s transportation department told the Star Monday it was already well into a process to improve the busy intersection as part of a larger package of projects.
In the short-term, the city will be “refreshing all signs and striping, inspecting street lighting for functionality and the consideration of flashing amber beacons.” A larger package of improvements has been in the works since 2023 for the intersection, and the city plans to install a TOUCAN (TwO groUps CAN cross) signal there.
According to data spanning from 2020 through 2024, there was one non-injury bicycle and pedestrian incident reported at the intersection of Euclid and Second Street, city officials said.
But even though improvements to that crosswalk have been in the works, Wilken said something should have been done sooner.
“I can’t help but feel like, if in the planning phase where officials talked and talked about what they should do, if anyone had gotten around to the actual doing and made that crosswalk anything other than the nightmare that it is, Josiah would still be here, Sophia would still be here, and Katya would still be here,” Wilken said. “So while I am grateful that the Department of Transportation is now prioritizing Euclid and Second, I am mad as hell that my friend had to die for this to happen.”
Topaz Servellon, a former UA student who was a close friend of Troetel, said the three students who died weren’t just statistics in an ever-growing problem in Tucson.
“Council, I really miss my friends. I want to use this platform not only to call for the courts to seek justice for my friends to the fullest extent of the law, but also to remind everyone, when Tucson was named one of the deadliest cities for pedestrians this past May, statistics like this don’t exist in a vacuum. There’s people behind these statistics,” Servellon said.
Tucson had the third-highest pedestrian rate in the country, of about 37.2 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to an analysis this year by ValuePenguin, a consumer-focused financial research and analysis group, using data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration between 2019 and 2023.
“Just this month alone, there have been several pedestrian deaths across Tucson, from high school students to the elderly,” Servellon said. “I thank our Department of Transportation for taking the initiative to put up a HAWK light at Second and Euclid, but it shouldn’t have taken this to do so.
“I know there are current and future members of this council that believe in safer streets for all. We need better infrastructure that will keep us safe. It shouldn’t have taken this incident to realize it,” Servellon said.
Councilmember Rocque Perez said the triple fatality hit close to home, as his brother was struck by a car this week.
“These were members of our community that came here for very exciting academic journeys, and unfortunately, we lost them to something that was preventable, both in terms of, I think, our streets, as well as prevention and the battle that we have with folks who are drinking and driving,” Perez said.
“Unfortunately, (my brother is) not going to be able to walk for quite some time. ... I’m glad to see that there’s action underway, that was already underway when it comes to Euclid, but I think there’s larger things at hand that I know that council will continue to advocate for.”
Councilmember Karin Uhlich said the loss of Castillo-Mendoza, Santos and Troetel is “horrific and tragic.”
“Looking out into the audience and seeing so many students, I’m assuming, young members of our community, the loss is just beyond words to even try and convey,” Uhlich said.
“We are working with the Department of Transportation to take immediate action and also to accelerate the planned investments ... but the main thing I want to say is thank you (to the crowd) for being here,” she said. “Thank you for voicing your ideas, thank you for making sure that we stay on track.”
