GOODYEAR, AZ — Sunday marked one year since lives changed forever in the West Valley Cycling community.
On Saturday, February 25, 2023, a pickup truck driver drove into a group of 20 cyclists on their routine Saturday morning ride on the Cotton Lane bridge just south of MC85. Two people died in the crash, David Kero and Karen Malisa, and nearly all the other cyclists were injured.
One year ago, there were flashing police lights on the bridge, bicycles mangled and debris lying across the bridge. On Sunday, there were police lights to direct traffic. However, bicycles were not mangled. Instead, they were intact, leaning up against a half-cement wall separating the sidewalk from the road, and the atmosphere was different.
The West Valley Cycling group rode to the bridge together, marking the one-year anniversary of the crash that changed their lives. Other cyclists and family and friends of victims gathered on the bridge to remember David and Karen as well as honor the victims who survived the crash.
While cries from Clay Wells could be heard as he got off his bike and hugged his wife, he was grateful to be alive.
Wells was the last of the crash victims to go home from a medical facility. He spent about four months in rehab, trying to get better and learned to walk again. He eventually started riding an indoor bike and had been on the road with a bike only twice. But on Sunday, the ride with his cycling friends was the longest he’d done.
“Hard. Emotional. Tears. Memories,” he described the ride to the bridge.
As he walked up to a ghost bike hanging on a post on the bridge, he cried, missing the friends he lost.
The Malisa family was trailing not too far behind, holding onto each other and emotional as well. Steve, Karen’s husband, and their two sons, Stephen and Michael, rode the bike to the bridge, too.
For Stephen, it was his first time on the bridge. He had told ABC15 just days earlier that he’d avoided it.
The cycling community is tight-knit. Resilient is also another word to be used, as many recovered over the last year and other fellow cyclists worked up to the courage to ride again just two weeks after the crash.
“It's a good day today to see those same friends and see how far they've come back in their recovery,” said Steve Rhone, a victim in the crash.
The Malisa men hugged many around them, surrounded by many supporters and people they now call family. Steve, specifically, has found solace in also riding with the West Valley Cycling group, now finding out why his wife loved cycling so much.
“If you were here, you can see why I’m riding. They basically have been so instrumental in my healing, and I thank them for all that. Each and every one of them,” Steve said.
“The amount of people that are here just speaks volumes,” Michael said. “I don’t know if the bridge necessarily makes me more sad than I already am through the whole situation but the amount of people that come here to honor her, honor Dave and continue on doing what you’re doing, it’s hard to explain. It’s powerful.”
A new ghost bike was installed on the bridge Sunday, a memorial for David and Karen and a reminder to others as they drive across the bridge.
The suspected pickup truck driver was let out of jail shortly after the crash. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute, not wanting to pursue felony charges citing lack of evidence. The driver told police that he had smoked marijuana the night before the crash, however, MCAO said Arizona law doesn’t have a set standard for proving impairment by THC only.
MCAO returned the case to the City of Goodyear for possible misdemeanors, to which the police department submitted several charges. However, as of Friday, there have been no new updates on where the Goodyear City Prosecutor’s Office is at with the case. The office does have another year to file charges.
“I just hope that Karen and Dave didn’t die in vain. And we can do things to protect cyclists and pedestrians in the state of Arizona. Because it’s sorely overdue."
