A police investigation has concluded that the driver of a blue Audi was not at fault when her car struck and killed 81-year-old pedestrian Dolores Mariconde Dogolo in Wooster Square.
The collision occurred Oct. 30 at Olive and Greene Streets.
Police conducted a months-long investigation of the incident, which found no reason to charge the driver, Patricia Cofrancesco, with a crime. The state’s attorney’s office agreed.
The fatal collision has prompted discussion in Wooster Square about how to slow down traffic.
Dogolo (pictured), a retired city government clerk, was “crossing diagonally and was not within the unmarked crosswalk at the moment of the collision,” according to a release Wednesday from police spokesman Officer David Hartman.
“The pedestrian had only stepped one pace over the double yellow line when she was struck. The driver would not have perceived the pedestrian as a threat until she stepped over the line.”
Investigators concluded that speed did not play a role in the collision. (Cofrancesco was traveling at a “minimum” of 24.07 miles per hour.) The driver wasn’t using a cell phone, Hartman reported. And she “wore prescription contact lenses and had recently had an ophthalmology exam. The vehicle operator had no condition – no physical or mental impairment that would have impaired her ability to safely operate a car.”
“There is no evidence to suggest that Ms. Cofrancesco operated her vehicle recklessly or without due regard for the safety of other users of the roadway. It is unknown whether a parking vehicle or a vehicle traveling in the opposing travel lane created a view obstruction for either the motorist or pedestrian prior to the collision.”
In the course of the investigation, the city’s traffic operations engineer, Bruce Fischer met with cops at the scene of the crash. He provided this “clarification,” according to Hartman: “Olive Street at the intersection of Green Street has two unmarked crosswalks that travel in an east and west direction. He indicated that the crosswalk is that part of a roadway at an intersection included within the connections of the lateral lines of the sidewalks on opposite sides of the road measured from the curbs. Mr. Fisher was shown the road markings made by Investigators that identified the point of impact. Based on this, investigators have concluded the collision to have occurred approximately five feet outside of the crosswalk.”
Alas, such is the life of a pedestrian in the age of machines: make a mistake, and pay with your life.