Lives shattered: Families grieve after sentencing in fatal 2017 Phoenix bike crash
The saga of a 2017 fatal crash involving a car and bicycle that launched the cycling community into the realm of activism and tore up the lives of two families closed Friday in a Maricopa County courtroom.
The car driver got three years in prison.
Annaleah Dominguez, 24, pled guilty to negligent homicide in August for her role in the crash that killed Rob Dollar, as he biked down the summit roadway in October 2017.
On Friday, families from both sides of the case spoke about the pain and chaos the crash caused in their lives.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Justin Beresky sentenced Dominguez to a prison term just nine months shorter than the maximum possible.
Drive up mountain kills cyclist
At around 9 a.m. on Oct. 17, 2017, Dominguez, then 19, drove her sister and a friend up to see the summit of South Mountain. She would later test positive for cocaine and methamphetamine and blow a blood alcohol content of 0.082%, just above the legal limit for adults, according to court records.
Dollar had been riding down Summit Road that morning, something he had done dozens of times, most likely speeding, according to court experts and Beresky.
Dominguez had been driving up one of the many blind curves on that road when she closed in on another biker in her lane, Kimberly Wagner.
When Dominguez tried passing Wagner on the left, her car straddled the yellow center line on that blind curve near the bottom of Telegraph Pass Road.
Her car hit Dollar, and he was killed.
'It's not a bike, it is a person on that bike'
At Friday’s hearing, a video of Dollar played, showing photos of Dollar throughout his life. Dominguez, in black, sat in the defendant's chair, wiping tears away as it played.
Dollar had grown up in Chandler and had been a physical trainer living in the Valley. He started biking after an injury stopped him from doing motocross, according to his father, John Dollar.
During the first half of the hearing, Dollar's friends and family testified about the enthusiastic person he was, described their pain and asked the judge to sentence Dominguez the maximum sentence of 3 3/4 years in prison.
Cindy Suttles, Dollar’s mother, had been the one who got the call about his death. She was shaking and tearful as she recounted that call.
“I have lost people. I've lost my friends. I have lost … seeing my mother die. And this was the worst day of my life,” she said. “When she killed my son. She killed a part of me.”
She asked the court to hand down the maximum sentence.
Dollar’s father talked about losing a best friend.
“I used to talk and text to him every single day. I don't know how many times I go to pick up my phone to text him, call him and can't do it.”
He felt that the reason Dominguez was allowed to plead guilty to negligent homicide was that his son had been killed while riding a bicycle.
“You kill anyone else, and we would be looking at a whole different sentence. But people don't realize it's not a bike, it is a person on that bike. It's somebody's life.”
'She wants to pay a price'
Dominguez’s lawyer, Joshua Blumenreich, told the court why his client took the plea deal.
Blumenreich said he had felt confident about taking the manslaughter case to trial and returning with a not guilty verdict. But Dominguez did not want that, the lawyer explained.
“I believe the guilt and burden that she's been living with in the five years, she wants to pay a price. I don't think she wants to walk away without paying some price. That's how bad she does feel.”
John Dollar also felt that taking the case to court would have led to a verdict of not guilty.
“There's some people that are still very negative towards cyclists and (the prosecution has) been concerned that if they get some people on the jury that don't like cyclists they're just gonna let it go,” he told The Arizona Republic in an interview.
“Their side wanted to plea the negligent homicide. The state of course didn't, but they didn't want to go to trial and have her walk away with nothing.”
In 2019, the state had offered a manslaughter plea deal to Dominguez, which would have carried a prison term of four to 10 years.
Three years later, she would sign a plea deal, but for negligent homicide instead.
A life taken and a life changed
Dominguez’s family testified how the crash had changed their lives.
Patricia Bowen, Dominguez’s aunt, explained how the crash had turned Dominguez from a “young and vivacious girl” to someone who had become “suicidal."
“There is nothing that Leah can do or say or pay or suffer enough to lessen the pain that Mr. Dollar's friends and family are feeling now. And until the end of time. Mr. Dollar was an exceptional human being. And the world is a lesser place without him,” she said.
Dominguez’s mother, Magdalene Rodriguez, pled for the sake of her daughter.
“Anybody that knows my daughter knows that she would give her life for someone else, if she could trade places she would. My daughter walks around as a half of a shell.”
She described her daughter as a responsible person who supported their family while balancing school and work as a teenager.
“She was the second mother in our house. I have seven kids. And she took up the responsibility without me asking,” she said. “I'm asking you for leniency with my daughter. She was 19 years old when this happened.”
Dominguez was visibly shaken, having cried during both families' testimonies.
She spoke just once before sentencing.
“I just wanted to let everyone know that there's not a day that goes by where I don't think about or realize the suffering that my actions have caused to the Dollar family and the biker community. And I just wanted to say I'm deeply sorry about that,” she said.
Sentencing focuses on drugs, her guilt
Beresky opened his sentencing by talking about the difference between negligible acts and intentional acts when it comes to the law, “intentional meaning someone going out intending to kill someone.”
“That's really no comfort to victims or victims' families because in both those scenarios, they've lost a loved one,” he said.
When sentencing, he focused on the drugs found in Dominguez’s system and, most importantly to him, the heartbreak her actions caused Dollar’s family.
He felt those circumstances outweighed the parts of the case that were in her favor: her age, no prior charges and her taking responsibility. He sentenced her to three years in prison.
“You're still young, and you will get on with your life. And you have a lot of life left. I hope you live a good life,” he told Dominguez.
Bike deaths in Phoenix
In 2017, the same year Dollar died, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported an increase in cycling deaths, with Phoenix being named as one of the most dangerous cities to cyclists.
At the time, Phoenix had 14 cyclist deaths, giving it the highest cyclist death rate of any major city in the United States.
During Friday’s hearing, Ben Dodge, a cyclist injury lawyer, spoke about cyclist death rates rising 36% in Arizona between 2020 and and 2021, citing a report by the Arizona Department of Transportation.
“One of the issues, I think, that surrounds this is that we need stronger legislation,” Dodge said.
After Dollar’s death, his father and his friend started the Rob Dollar Foundation, which focuses on creating safer roads for cyclists in Arizona.
They are working on changing legislation to create harsher punishments for drivers who hit bicyclists.
John Dollar is looking forward to continuing that work now that his son’s case has ended.
“I will start reaching out to the lawmakers and we'll see what we can do but I will not give up until something has changed,” he said. “You got two choices, you got to keep moving forward. Or you just, I don’t know — what's the other alternative?”
Reach crime reporter Miguel Torres at Miguel.Torres@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @TheMiguelTorres.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Annaleah Dominguez gets 3 years in prison in deadly 2017 Phoenix bike crash
