Charges filed in crash that killed local educator
The Los Alamos Police Department last week filed traffic charges against the driver who struck and killed 68-year-old Brian Easton as he crossed a street as a pedestrian.
Thirty-nine-year-old Ernest Abeyta, of Manassa, Colorado, is charged with misdemeanor traffic charges for failure to yield to a pedestrian in crosswalk and careless driving. At the time of the crash, Abeyta was turning from North Road onto Urban Street as Easton crossed the intersection in the crosswalk, according to LAPD incident reports.
The crash happened just after 11 am on March 15. Soon after, Easton was transported to the Los Alamos Medical Center and later airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque in critical condition. He later died on March 17.
Abeyta remained at the scene following the crash and witnesses told police he got out of his truck to help Easton and later identified himself to police as a paramedic, according to the incident reports, which were obtained by Boomtown through a public records request.
Abeyta told investigators that he did not see Easton in the crosswalk as he turned onto eastbound Urban because he blended in with the landscaping in front of the park at the intersection, the incident reports stated. He also said he’d come to a complete stop before turning.
During the investigation, two officers from the LAPD crash investigations team recreated the crash “multiple times,” with one officer driving a vehicle on North and then turning onto Urban as another officer crossed the road using the crosswalk.
“Though cars, people, heights, views while driving a car, etc. are different, the reenactment showed it was possible for me to completely lose sight of [the other officer] while she was in the crosswalk,” an officer wrote in one incident report.
Abeyta was issued a summons to appear for an arraignment hearing in the case, scheduled for June 23 in Los Alamos County Magistrate Court.
According to an online obituary, a celebration of Easton’s life is scheduled for 1 pm on June 27 at the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos.