A 38-year-old man died after his car veered off East Benson Highway on Tucson's south side and came to rest atop a boulder, according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department. Deputies say the driver, identified as Kodi Roy Payne, was the only person in the vehicle; whether impairment was a factor in the crash was unknown.
San Xavier District deputies arrived at the 3300 block of East Benson Highway just after 2:10 p.m. on Thursday, per KVOA. First responders found a single vehicle resting on top of a boulder and located Payne unresponsive inside. Emergency medical personnel transported him to a local hospital in life-threatening condition, where doctors later pronounced him deceased.
Investigators believe Payne was traveling eastbound on Benson Highway before he veered off the roadway, the station's report states. As part of its initial investigation, the sheriff's department believes the crash may have resulted from a sudden medical incident, though the case remains under investigation.
A Corridor With a History of Fatal Crashes
East Benson Highway is no stranger to deadly wrecks. In July, a 27-year-old driver was killed in a single-vehicle rollover crash on the same corridor near South Hartford Stravenue after veering off the roadway and overcorrecting, according to a Pima County Sheriff's Department release cited by the Arizona Daily Star. A year earlier, a 63-year-old motorcyclist died after colliding with a dump truck at the intersection of East Benson Highway and South Alvernon Way, per KGUN 9.
The highway itself carries a layered history. Once part of U.S. Route 80, East Benson Highway, according to the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation. San Xavier District deputies responded to the crash, and the district opened a new substation on West Valencia Road last year to shorten emergency response times.
Pima County's Broader Traffic Safety Picture
Payne's death adds to a grim tally across Pima County. Statewide, Arizona logged 1,228 traffic deaths across more than 121,000 crashes in 2024, averaging more than three fatalities a day, according to My AZ Lawyers.
Tucson has also drawn national attention for its crash risk. A Consumer Affairs national index published last year ranked the city as the fifth deadliest in the country for drivers based on its per-capita fatal crash rate, the same report notes. Hoodline has previously covered a fatal southside crash that killed a 52-year-old man after his car struck a power pole, part of the same pattern of deadly collisions across the region.
What a Medical Emergency Defense Could Mean
Nationally, Nolo cites research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in which 1.3% of drivers had a medical emergency while driving; most drivers in the study were involved in single-vehicle crashes. Such episodes are relatively rare but often involve unpredictable events like cardiac episodes or sudden loss of consciousness.
Under Arizona tort law, a driver who suffers a sudden, unexpected medical incapacitation behind the wheel may be able to invoke a sudden medical emergency defense to avoid liability for civil negligence claims, provided the episode was unforeseeable, per the same legal reference. Whether that defense becomes relevant in Payne's case will depend on findings still to come from the Pima County Sheriff's Department, which continues to investigate the crash. Confirmation of the exact cause remains pending, an open question that has not yet been resolved.
