Still no word on latest El Camino fatality Still no word on latest El Camino fatality (November 11, 2005)

By Jon Wiener

Nearly a month has gone by since John Mulligan died while trying to cross El Camino Real, and Mountain View police are still trying to finish their investigation into the Oct. 12 collision.

Police spokesperson Jim Bennett said detectives had interviewed several witnesses and were waiting for the results of a toxicology report to determine whether Mulligan was under the influence at the time of his death. Bennett said police would make no official determination about who was at fault until the report was final, a process he said can sometimes take weeks.

"The important message in this particular case is crossing El Camino at an uncontrolled intersection in hours of darkness is extremely dangerous," Bennett said. He added that police are very concerned about a recent rash of traffic fatalities.

Mulligan, a 55-year-old San Francisco resident who was staying at a hotel in Mountain View, was walking across El Camino at Clark Way late in the evening. The intersection does not have a crosswalk or any kind of traffic signal, and is located just one block west of where a Sunnyvale man died when he slammed his car into a stoplight in July.

A third fatality on El Camino occurred in June, when a woman died after crossing the street at Americana Way. Police dropped that investigation due to lack of evidence.

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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