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MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

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Richard Romano, ped., killed by car (4/22/16 9200 Burnet Rd.)

Case:            APD 16-1130332
Date:           Friday, April 22, 2016
Time:           6:21 a.m.
Location:    9200 block of Burnet Road
Deceased:   Richard Dominic Romano, White male (D.O.B. 3-14-53)

The preliminary investigation shows that a 2012 white Nissan Frontier car was traveling southbound in the inside lane of Burnet Road when it struck a pedestrian who was in the roadway, in the 9200 block. This is an area of the roadway not approved for pedestrians to cross and is also fairly dark at this time of the morning. The pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene. Toxicology is pending to determine whether impairment was a factor in this crash. http://www.stopteendrinkingaustin.com/n … shes-2016/
[emphasis in original]

About this, a letter ran in the Chronicle on 5/27/16, excerpted here:

...Richard Romano was killed near my workplace while walking along Burnet Road....I have walked that section of road many times to get lunch or catch the bus, and every time I have had the thought that I might not make it back to my office safely.  Many times I have imagined that at least if I am killed, it will bring attention to the need for pedestrian infrastructure in Roth Austin.

So when Romano was killed...I was interested to see how the community would respond.  KXAN, KVUE, KEYE, and the Statesman all reported on his death, but their investigations went no further than to quote an unnamed source, saying Romano was not in an area approved for pedestrians.  No news outlet mentioned that this section of Burnet Road wholly lacks sidewalks, that there are no alternative "approved areas" for pedestrians, or that it is quite possible he was simply trying to avoid walking in a large muddy ditch.

I looked to the comment sections in hopes of finding fellow outraged citizens calling for our city to provide basic infrastructure such as sidewalks and safe crosswalks, but excepting one article, our community has remained completely silent about Romano's death.  Only the online version of KXAN's April 22 report contained any community response at all; but sadly, the majority of commenters indicated that Romano deserved to be killed because sometimes they see people jaywalk.  So much for hopes of an empathetic community response in the wake of tragedy. https://www.austinchronicle.com/feedbac … 8/1849431/

Coincidentally, there's a Richard Romano in Houston whose wife was killed by a hit-and-run driver.  Small world.
  https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texa … 739495.php