Inexperienced driver involved in SD pedicab fatality

Pedi-cab driver may face misdemeanor manslaughter charge

GASLAMP QUARTER, CA - The trolley, the traffic and pedi-cabs are part of the downtown San Diego scenery.

Pedi-cab driver Tuncan Turan is new to his job. He's an international student visiting from Turkey and only been operating his pedi-cab for a week.

"It's very enjoyable, but it's too hard," Turan said.

And Turan admits it's also a dangerous job. On July 4th, a pedi-cab accident takes the life of 60-year-old Sharon Miller, a retired teacher from Sherman, Illinois. San Diego Police spokesperson, Monica Munoz, said Miller flew off the pedi-cab when the driver, 23-year-old Sukru Safa Cinar, swerved quickly. The tragic news travels fast among the pedi-cab crowd.

"Very unfortunate, very fortunate," Pedi-cab driver Emmanuel Baidoo said.

Police say the accident happened on the Martin Luther King Promenade, a pedestrian pathway, that borders the trolley tracks. It's an area that prohibits pedi-cabs and bicycles. Police say the driver, a 23-year-old from Istanbul, Turkey was driving unsafe and performing serpentine pattern on the sidewalk and the passengers were swaying from side to side.

"If you've never ride it before, when you're riding, this steer tends to go this way. But if you know how to ride it and how to control it, it goes straight," Baidoo said.

Allyson Chick is a second-grade teacher from Tennessee. She's attending the National Education Associate and said the convention has taken on a somber mood.

"When it's one of our own family members who has passed away, it's a definite tragedy," Chick said.

Pedi-cab drivers say the general rule is no more than 3 people can sit in a cab. And some cabs have seat-belts and others don't have them. But they reassure riders they only travel five miles per hour.

"It's safe because we're not going fast," Turan said.

Helene Trannenberg is visiting San Diego with her husband and daughter from France. The family is thinking twice before hopping on one.

"The problem is there are a lot of cars on the road and it can be dangerous," Trannenberg said.

Pedi-cab drivers admit it can be a dangerous ride if their colleagues aren't paying attention to the rules of the road.

"It depends on the driver who's taking you. He should be very cautious," Baidoo said.

San Diego officers with the traffic division are still preparing their report and will submit it to the city attorney's office. The driver, 23-year-old Sukru Safa Cinar, may face a misdemeanor manslaughter charge. Police say he's an independent contractor, not working for a company. Cinar has only been in the United States for a few months with a work visa. At the time of the accident, he does have a permit to operate the pedi-cab. He wasn't arrested at the scene.