APD Traffic Unit officers investigate at the scene of the accident on Jan. 10, 2012. (Journal File)
The woman accused of running a red light and killing a bicyclist who was on his way home from work on Jan. 10 is facing a misdemeanor charge of careless driving and faces no more than 90 days in jail, KRQE News 13 reported.
Police said Carol Svinarich, 58, ran a red light near Osuna and Academy Parkway NE and ran into Scott Dwane Lane, who was riding home from his job as vice president of a local manufacturing company, according to News 13.
“It’s probably a good day for her,” Lane’s widow Sheryl Kearby told KRQE. “You know, 90 days is nothing. I’d be happy.”
Following the accident, Svinarich told police she was driving west around 5 p.m. and the sun was in her eyes and the visor down and said she thought the light was green or possibly yellow, News 13 said.
The charges came after a monthlong investigation into the fatal incident, the station reported.
1/13/12 — Driver Disputes Running Red Light
By Olivier Uyttebrouck/Journal Staff Writer
Witnesses told police that a driver had run a red light when she struck and fatally injured bicyclist Scott “Dwane” Lane, a 55-year-old accountant and father of four.
Carol Svinarich, 58, drove the sport-utility vehicle that struck Lane as he tried to cross Osuna at Academy Parkway NE on Tuesday, police said.
Any decision on whether to file charges lies with the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office, Albuquerque police said Thursday.
Svinarich disputed that she ran a red light, telling police that “her light was green and may have turned to yellow when she entered the intersection,” an officer wrote. Police said three witnesses reported that Svinarich ran a red light.
Lane, a certified public accountant, was likely cycling home from work about 3 p.m. Tuesday when he was fatally injured, said Lane’s sister, Jane Naugher of Denton, Texas.
“He rode to work every day, to and from,” Naugher said. A former baseball team captain at the University of North Texas in Denton, Lane cycled to work habitually to stay fit and save money, she said.
Lane was riding south across Osuna at Academy Parkway, police said. He was struck by the westbound vehicle and transported to a hospital, where he died early Wednesday.
Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, police said. “Driver inattention” was the only contributing factor listed in the report.
The District Attorney’s Office had not yet received the case file on Thursday.
Lane and his brothers and sisters grew up working as car hops and dishwashers in their parents’ drive-in ice cream restaurant in Denton, said Lane’s older brother, Eddie Lane.
“They brought us up to work, and that’s what we did,” Eddie Lane said of his parents.
Dwane Lane moved to Albuquerque about 1986 after his employer, Moore Business Forms, transferred him to its Albuquerque office, Eddie Lane said.
“They loved their city there in Albuquerque,” Eddie Lane said of his brother and his family. Dwane Lane chose to stay in Albuquerque and take jobs with other employers after Moore Business Forms closed its Albuquerque operation and offered to transfer him out of state, he said.
Dwane Lane and his wife, Sheryl Lane, began dating at Denton High School, Eddie Lane said.
The couple’s four children, ranging in age from 18 to their late 20s, all attended New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.
Dwane Lane also took an active leadership role in the Boy Scouts of America from 2004 to 2011, when his youngest son enrolled at NMSU, said Rick Meyerhein, Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 174.
“He was a very likeable individual,” Meyerhein said of Lane. “He was very highly respected in the troop. He will be sorely missed.”
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal
