Sedona resident Joel David Eagan, 54, was struck and killed in a vehicle-versus-bicycle collision at the intersection of Thunder Mountain Road and Dry Creek Road around 6:38 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7.
A Sedona Fire District ambulance from Station 4 and paramedics from Stations 1 and 4 responded to the call as well as Sedona police.
A helicopter was initially dispatched but later called off. When police officers arrived, Eagan was reportedly badly injured and unresponsive. Lifesaving measures were taken by officers as well as paramedics, but were unsuccessful and Eagan died at the scene.
Witnesses reported to police that the bicyclist, “who had been traveling perpendicular to the vehicle, attempted to go around the vehicle” “by accelerating and turning directly in front of the moving vehicle,” a white Lincoln Navigator SUV, which had been moving forward from the stop sign on Thunder Mountain Road onto Dry Creek Road.
Eagan reportedly had no lights on his bicycle and was not wearing a helmet, according to witnesses.
The road was closed by Sedona police and police volunteers, who turned around northbound traffic on Dry Creek Road at Remuda Road, except for local vehicles.
SFD crews were cleared from the scene at 7:26 p.m.
A Nixle alert about the road closure was not issued by city of Sedona staff until 8:32 p.m. The road remained closed until the arrival of the Yavapai County Medical Examiner.
Police detectives determined there was no criminal action or impairment on the part of the vehicle driver, a 77-year-old Sedona woman, who had remained at the scene after the collision.
The driver of the Lincoln Navigator was heading southwest to the intersection, according to the police report, released on Feb. 20. After stopping at the stop sign, the driver turned left and was struck by Eagan. She exited the vehicle and called 9-1-1.
A juvenile heading westbound on a bicycle on the sidewalk spoken with police in the presence of his mother, and said he witnessed the Lincoln Navigator stop then begin to turn left, when Eagan, who was heading northbound, “accelerated from the sidewalk and into the apron of the sidewalk to cross over Thunder Mountain Road, where it [Eagan] then went left to go in front of the white Lincoln,” according to the police report.
Eagan had been a resident of Sedona for more than 24 years and was known as a local artist and a photographer who sold photos he shot in Sedona, Telluride, Colo., Maui, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. He often rode a motorized bicycle around West Sedona.
“The incident is under investigation with the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office and when that is complete, we will release the police report ASAP with the full details.”
Sedona Police Sgt. Casey Pelletier reported that on Feb. 26, he received an email from Mike Morrison with the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office stating “there is no criminal conduct involved and no civil violation committed by the automobile driver.”
Based on this, Pelletier wrote, no charges will be filed and the case will be closed as “non-criminal.”
Sedona Communications Director Lauren Browne stated in an email on Monday, Feb. 10. Browne did not provide any further details about the collision.
