A Flagstaff tow truck driver who heedlessly barreled through a red light, slamming into a group of cyclists and resulting in the death of one, has been sentenced to prison. Normand Cloutier, 63, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide for killing Joanna Wheaton, and also received a sentence for the sexual exploitation of a minor. The Coconino County Superior Courthouse handed Cloutier a total of six years for the vehicular crime and 17 years for the explicit content found on his phone during the bicycle crash investigation, as reported by 12 News.
During the accident on May 28, 2021, Wheaton, 29, was fatally injured and three others were hospitalized, including the Flagstaff celebrity Dapper Dre, who lost his leg in the crash. Cloutier's defense claimed the sun was in his eye, but the remorseless man didn't directly apologize to the victims at the sentencing. Instead, he lamented to the court, "All I’ve ever done my entire life is help people." The victims rebuffed Cloutier's self-defensive posture with one, recounting that they "never needed your help, Normand" and beseeching him to have obeyed the traffic light that had been red "for at least ten seconds."
Reflecting the ongoing perturbation within the Flagstaff cycling community, this incident has spurred action, resulting in the city initiating a pilot program for bolstered bike lanes, equipped with barriers. With a substantial grant secured in December, permanent changes are anticipated in the coming years, aiming to prevent such catastrophes from recurring. Meanwhile, on a cliff-hanging road near Canyon Lake, a driver was rescued after their Toyota Avalon plunged off the edge. The Superstition Fire Department, responding to the call on the morning of Saturday, faced a challenging extraction before the hospitalized individual was flown, in stable condition, to a trauma center. This report comes from AZ Family.
