By
Ryan Finley
Arizona Summer Wildcat
UA student accidentally hits, kills acquaintance on Sixth Street
Just days after a former Pima Community College student was killed near a campus-area intersection, the driver of the car that hit him spoke of the victim as someone she considered a friend.
Matthew Patrick O'Connell, 22, was killed Thursday night when he was hit by a car near the corner of East Sixth Street and North Plumer Avenue.
According to police reports, O'Connell was killed at about 8:40 p.m. after being struck by a car driven by UA political science senior Pamela Epstein, 21, who was driving west on East Sixth Street in her 2001 Volkswagen Jetta at the time of the accident.
"I was driving back to my house · and a man ran in front of the car," Epstein said yesterday. "It's all kind of a blur. I hit him, pulled up to the next possible street, and called 911. They came within minutes."
O'Connell was taken to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tucson Police spokeswoman Sgt. Judy Altieri said Epstein did not have time to slow down and will not be charged with any crime. Department officials also said alcohol was not a factor in the accident.
"(Epstein) will not be charged," Altieri said. "She was not able to see him and he was not in a crosswalk."
Epstein, who was treated and released for minor cuts and bruises and at UMC, heard from a friend that the victim was O'Connell, whom Epstein knew through a mutual acquaintance.
"It (would have been) hard enough not knowing the person," Epstein said. "He was funny, he was a good person. But I don't feel comfortable talking about him. It's a horrible, horrible thing. I would take it back if I could."
Epstein - who serves as Associated Students' Special Events Director - said O'Connell was from Minnesota and living in Tucson before he died.
"I wish it hadn't happened, but it did," she said. "Everyone that knew him is hurting and grieving for it.
"Now, I have to make my life worth twice as much - for me and for him."
