Pedestrian dies after being hit by allegedly distracted driver
Police investigate witness claim that driver was distracted by cellphone
Santa Fe woman died of injuries suffered when hit in a crosswalk by a driver who witnesses said was on her cellphone.
A Santa Fe woman died of injuries suffered when hit in a downtown crosswalk by a driver who witnesses said was on her cellphone, according to police reports released Monday. She was at least the fourth pedestrian killed by a motorist in the city this year.
The woman was identified as Alice Cameron, 49. An obituary identified her as Alice Sookying Cameron and said she worked for a California company, which she joined as controller and vice president of accounting.
Cameron and her husband, James Cameron, were struck in a crosswalk Friday evening as they crossed Paseo de Peralta at Griffin Street, according to police. The husband suffered minor injuries.
The driver was identified by police as Janet Pacheco-Morton of Santa Cruz, who is in her mid-40s. She hasn’t been charged in the crash and declined comment Monday.
Pacheco-Morton told police “that if there were witnesses that she was probably on her cellphone,” according to reports.
James Cameron, 60, a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee, called the crash “senseless, careless, thoughtless and selfish.” He said in an interview Monday evening that he wants police to take appropriate action after the investigation is over.
Cameron said the couple moved to Santa Fe last year from Houston and that they were walking Friday evening from their condominium to the downtown restaurant Café Pasqual’s.
He said his wife pushed the button for the pedestrian crossing signal and that they waited for the signal before walking southbound across Paseo de Peralta.
Cameron said the vehicle was driving fast when it hit the couple.
“My wife yelled, ‘Hey!’ ” he said. “And all of the sudden there was a car in front of me and it hit me first.”
Cameron said the driver came out of her car and said, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t see anything because there was sun in my eyes.”
Another pedestrian came over and said the driver was on her cellphone, he said.
Pacheco-Morton told police that she did not see the couple in the crosswalk as she turned westbound onto Paseo De Peralta from Griffin Street and that she had a green light to make the left turn, according to police reports. The crash occurred at about 7 p.m. Friday.
She said, “The sun was facing her as she cleared the intersection and she was not able to see very well,” reports show.
Santa Fe police Officer Leonel Valencia wrote that Pacheco-Morton initially “stated that the sun was the only distraction or obstruction she had when the incident occurred.”
But police then received handwritten statements from two witnesses who “indicated that Ms. Pacheco-Morton was on the cell phone when the incident occurred,” Valencia wrote in the report.
After receiving the statements, police confronted Pacheco-Morton, asking if she had any other distractions while driving, such as a cellphone, according to reports.
“Ms. Pacheco-Morton stated that she had the cell phone on speaker and had it on the cup holder of her car,” according to reports. Police said they then cited the witness statements that they saw her on the cell phone.
“Ms. Pacheco-Morton stated that she did not remember and stated that it was possible that she did have her hands busy with the cell phone when the incident occurred,” the reports said. “Ms. Pacheco-Morton also stated that if there were witnesses that she was probably on her cell phone.”
Santa Fe police took Pacheco-Morton’s vehicle, a 2017 silver Hyundai, and cellphone into evidence, according to the reports.
Linkedin.com lists a Janet PachecoMorton as a certified public accountant with a company in La Puebla. The same Janet Pacheco-Morton is listed as a board member and treasurer by First Nations Community Healthsource, which operates health care clinics in Albuquerque.
Alice Cameron was airlifted to The University of New Mexico Hospital for treatment of a head injury and later died there.
The obituary said she was born in Malaysia and immigrated to the United States in 1988. She became a certified public accountant in 1995 and later became controller and vice president of global accounting services for a Houston software company, the obituary said. She began working in 2016 for Innovative Resources of San Francisco.
In addition to her husband, Cameron is survived by the couple’s 19-year-old daughter.