Arizona Pastor Kills Man Changing Tire, Sentenced to Prison
An Arizona pastor who killed a man changing a flat tire on the side of the road in 2011 while driving was sentenced to prison this week.
Pastor Wayne Salguero, 58, was sentenced on Thursday after pleading no contest to careless driving 45 days ago. The courts charged him with vehicular homicide for veering off I-40 and hitting a 23 year-old McAlister's Deli delivery driver named Timothy Sheehan in 2011, according to the Associated Press.
Prosecutors claimed Salguero was driving the speed limit and that there was no evidence that he was on his cell phone when the accident occurred.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Salguero resides in Winslow, Ariz. He hit Sheehan on the shoulder of the highway between the fast lane and the median barrier, according to the original police report.
An on the scene eye witness described the incident to Arizona's News 13 when it first happened.
"When I came around the bend, I saw a guy changing his tire and the first thing that came to mind was 'Oh my god, what is that guy doing? He's going to get hit," said Shelly Ohnleiter of Albuquerque. The witness claimed Sheehan was just too close to the road.
"The driver could have been startled when he saw (Sheehan) and just one little jerk of the wheel could have caused him to hit him," continued the witness. Police had to close all the westbound lanes and divert traffic to the city streets for around two hours on the day of the incident. Police believed Salguero was either distracted or was intentionally driving on the shoulder when he hit Sheehan, according to older reports. They also told news outlets that there was no evidence of Salguero hitting the breaks or trying to avoid making contact with Sheehan.
